GOV CLAIMS SUCCESS IN WAR ON DRUGS

Phuket Governor CEO Pongpayome Vasaputi has announced that
more than three quarters of those on Phuket's black list of drug
dealers are now under arrest =AD or dead.

In a statement issued through the Phuket Public Relations Office, Gov
Pongpayome said that during the first 2 1/2 months of the national War
On Drugs, 181 of Phuket's blacklisted drug dealers were arrested and
five others died, bringing the total of those no longer dealing drugs
in the province to 186 people, or 77.5% of the 240 names on the
blacklist of drug-dealers.

In addition, 84 unlisted drug dealers and 244 unlisted drug users
turned themselves in.

A total of 734 drug users surrendered to the government and 528 of
these received treatment. The provincial blacklist of drug users
initially contained 704 names.

The Governor emphasized that big dealers would be targeted in the last
days of the three-month campaign, which ends at midnight April 30.

=93We will arrest as many of those remaining on the lists as possible,=94
he said, =93and, in order to ensure transparency, we will put on display
assets worth more than 10 million baht seized from drug dealers.

=93We won't stop until Phuket is free of drug dealers.=94