CROCS, CATFISH SEIZED IN THAI WAR ON DRUGS

BANGKOK: Some 9,200 crocodiles and 100,000 catfish were among items seized
by the authorities during Thailand's war on drugs, officials said yesterday.

They said drug dealers had laundered illicit wealth through legitimate
businesses, including crocodile, ostrich and fish farms, jewellery shops,
luxurious mansions or expensive cars.

"We estimate to have seized 2.5bil baht (RM228mil) worth of assets, mainly
from drug dealers since the introduction of the law four years ago,"
Peeraphan Prempooti, head of the Anti-Money Laundering Office, said,
referring to a 1999 money laundering law.Peeraphan's office held a
reception to celebrate its fourth anniversary yesterday at a luxurious
Bangkok hotel showing off two of its 2,900 baby crocodiles due to be put up
for auction.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched a three-month anti-drug
crackdown in February in which 1,612 people died, prompting fierce
criticism from international rights groups.

By May 1, security forces had arrested 58,000 suspected drug traffickers
and dealers, and the government had sacked 1,300 civil servants suspected
of involvement with them.