AUSTRALIA JOINS BURMA IN HEROIN FIGHT

Australia is co-operating with Burma's military rulers to challenge drug
lords who are dumping cheap heroin on Australia's east coast, despite
claims that elements of the regime are themselves linked to major
traffickers. The move aims to encourage the Burmese Government to tackle
the heads of drug empires which are based in the opium growing region of
the country's far north.

Despite a recent drop in opium production because of poor weather in Burma,
the price of heroin continues to fall worldwide and purity has increased as
Mexican and Colombian producers flood the United States market.

NSW police say heroin purity is already at an all-time high. "If you got a
foil [about a gram] 10 years ago you'd anticipate the purity would be about
10 per cent," said a senior officer. "We would regard that as pretty good
gear. Now it's common to get a foil of almost full purity, around 75 per cent."

As part of Canberra's new policy, the Australian military has stepped up
its contribution to wider intelligence gathering, which includes the
stationing of a Federal Police agent in Burma for the first time.

One immediate goal is to get tip-offs on major heroin shipments from Burma
to Sydney, Melbourne and the Gold Coast.

The same region is also smuggling speed-like methamphetamine into Thailand
and there are concerns that these drugs will be sent on to Australia. The
methamphetamine boom is having a major impact on once isolated rural
villages in the "Golden Triangle" which are studded with new hotels and
casinos. p) Australian anti-narcotics operatives were recently in Mong La
to be briefed on efforts to stem the drug trade. But the production of
tonnes of heroin and methamphetamines continues largely unabated in the
outlying areas of Shan State.

Critics are cynical about collaboration between Australia and Burma. The US
and the Thai military have accused Burma of tacitly allowing the
development of mini "narco-States"