KILLINGS: POLICE 'TAMPERING WITH EVIDENCE'

BANGKOK - As the body count in the drug war rises, Thailand's leading
forensics specialist said yesterday she is convinced that police are
tampering with evidence to cover their own tracks.

The three-month crackdown, launched on Feb 1, aims to wipe out Thailand's
vast illicit drug trade. Official figures, released on Monday, place the
death toll at 326.

But Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, deputy director of the Central Institute of
Forensic Science, said that in most cases, methamphetamine tablets are
found in the victims' pockets - a sign that someone has tampered with the
crime scene.

Dr Pornthip said the drugs are placed in the pockets to make the killings
look like an internal conflict but that, in reality, gangs would not leave
drugs as evidence.

'We don't believe that the people behind the killings are those who wanted
to silence their accomplices. We can only say that it was the police who
arranged the murders,' she said. --AP