RESULTS OF ANTI-DRUGS CAMPAIGN SATISFY PM

Authorities have arrested 5,700 drug suspects, seized 3.8 million speed
pills and frozen 129 million baht in assets in the first five days of their
war on drugs since Feb 1.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday he was pleased with the
results and urged officials to keep up the good work. He said the
government would continue its tough action to ensure all provinces were
drug-free. He did not elaborate.

Human rights groups have voiced concern about the rising number of deaths
among alleged drug traders, believing many were victims of summary
executions by police.

Mr Thaksin said tough measures alone would not be enough to stop the drug
trade. The government was drafting regulations governing rewards for
arresting authorities. Police would be paid three baht a speed pill they
seized, though the overall reward money should not exceed one million baht.
In cases when arrests led to asset seizures, a special bonus would be
added, he said.

"We pay good officials to show them our morale support and hope bad
officials will think they should rather make money from doing good," he said.

Mr Thaksin said he was thinking about legalising some "underground"
activities that thrived with the help of corrupt officials. "That's a way
to combat corruption," he said.

He said authorities were now investigating the 39,000 alleged drug traders,
adding some of them had already been arrested and had promised to quit the
business. He said the Interior Ministry and the police would jointly
evaluate the success of the first two weeks of the campaign in each
province after Feb 15 and underachieving officials would be punished.