THAILAND SEES GOLDEN TRIANGLE DRUG OUTPUT FALLING

BANGKOK, June 25 (Reuters) - Thailand's drug control agency said on Friday
it sees narcotics output from the infamous Golden Triangle area decreasing
because of closer cooperation among countries in the area to curb the menace.

The Golden Triangle straddles the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos and
is the world's top opium producing area.

The deputy secretary general of Thailand's Organisation of Narcotics Control
Board (ONCB), Sorasit Sangprasert, told reporters that better cooperation,
especially from Myanmar, had improved prospects for reduced drug production
in the Triangle.

International anti-drug agencies believe that 70 percent of the world's
heroin supply originates from the area.

Myanmar has been seen by the agencies as one of the main sources of heroin
in the world.

The ONCB estimates some 300 million amphetamine tablets are produced
annually in the Myanmar section of the Triangle.

"With the close cooperation from countries in the region taking place now, I
hope drug production will decrease," Sorasit said at a ceremony to burn
seized drugs on the outskirts of Bangkok.

At the drug burn, some 335 kg (737 pounds) of heroin, 981 kgs (2,160 pounds)
of opium and 250,000 amphetamine tablets were torched in an
environment-friendly, smokeless oven.

Sorasit said intense cooperation was now being given by enforcement agencies
from Cambodia, Laos, China, Myanmar, and Vietnam to curb drug production.

"Especially Myanmar. It is seriously cracking down on the drugs problem.
They seized 16 million amphetamine tablets last years while in Thailand we
seized 33 million," he added.

"Before, Myanmar used to be less concerned but now they are very serious and
we are working together closely, especially in cross border cooperation," he
said.

Such close cooperation had also enabled Australian anti-narcotic agencies to
make their biggest seizure ever of 400 kg (880 pounds) of heroin originating
from the Golden Triangle last year, he said. REUTERS