DEATH TOLL MOUNTS IN THAI DRUG WAR

BANGKOK -- A campaign by authorities in Thailand to root out drugs has
claimed the lives of 484 people over the last three weeks, but most of the
casualties have been due to gangland killings of informants, police said
yesterday.

The government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched the campaign
on Feb. 1, vowing to crack down on trafficking of illegal drugs, especially
methamphetamines, over the next three months.

But the mounting death toll has prompted charges by human-rights groups and
forensic experts that extrajudicial executions are being carried out by or
on behalf of police.

Police spokesman Maj.-Gen. Pongsapat Pongcharoen said that 22 people have
been killed by police in drug-related cases since the campaign began.
Another 462 deaths have been attributed to killings of informants by drug
dealers, he said.

The prime minister defended the killings by police in his weekly radio
address but added that the force also needed to crack down on its own
personnel because some police were involved in trafficking.

"From now on, we have to see that those authorities who are protecting drug
dealers or selling are all caught," Thaksin said. "At this point, we have
reports that more than 200 officials are involved (in drug dealing)."

Three policemen have been killed and seven injured since the war on drugs
was launched.

More than 21,000 suspects have been arrested and charged. Police have also
seized almost 8.5 million speed pills and drug-related assets worth more
than $8 million Cdn.

The Public Health Ministry estimates that more than three million people
are addicted to drugs.