NEW DELHI, India (AP) Thousands of Indians rallied today at the border
with Burma in a symbolic blockade of a major transit route for drugs into
their country, organizers said.

The protesters politicians, human rights activists and students accuse
the Burmese military regime of profiting from the drug trade, which has
shifted much of the traffic from the Thai to the Indian border.

The Burmese regime ``is surviving on drug money,'' said Ramesh Kumar, an
official in New Delhi for the Samata Party, which is leading the protests.

The rally began Thursday along a small border crossing near Moreh in the
remote northeastern state of Manipur, and demonstrations are scheduled to
go on for another two weeks. Moreh is 1,000 miles northeast of New Delhi.

The Rangoon government has denied allegations that it profited from drugs.
But it has signed ceasefire agreements with several ethnic leaders that
allow them to continue growing opium. These leaders have been identified by
U.S. drug control agencies as traffickers.

Investigators say raw opium is converted into heroin in factories in Burma
and shipped to international markets through Thailand and India.

Indian police say they are incapable of stopping the trade, claiming they
are hindered by government apathy, inadequate staff and no funds. The drug
and border police has just 12 officers for Manipur. In one year, they
seized only 2.2 pounds of heroin.