THAI GOV'T SUSPECTED OF DRUG TIES

BANGKOK, Thailand - About 300 government officials in Thailand's
northeastern provinces are suspected of involvement in the drug trade,
a Thai cabinet minister has said.

The officials are on a list at the government's central anti-drug
body, the Office of Narcotics Control Board, Jurin Laksanavisit, who
oversees the panel, was quoted as saying Sunday by The Nation newspaper.

The suspects include 60 employees of the Education Ministry, Jurin was
quoted as saying, although the report did not specify if they were
teachers. He urged government agencies to monitor their own employees
for ties to the drug trade, The Nation said.

Thailand has a very active drug trade, and is well known as a market
and shipment point for heroin from neighboring Myanmar.

Thai drug officials say their most serious problem, however, is the
trafficking and consumption of methamphetamine, a stimulant that is
cheaply and easily produced and whose popularity has soared in recent
years.