DRUG ENFORCEMENT SEMINAR BEGINS

COOPERATION: Officials from the US Drug Enforcement Administration are
meeting with local law enforcement to help them improve their skills in
hunting down dealers

The first joint Taiwan-US drug enforcement workshop kicked off yesterday in
Taipei, following a groundbreaking agreement signed in March.

The four-day 2002 Drug Enforcement Work Training Seminar, held by the
Bureau of Investigation and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA),
runs until Friday. During the seminar, DEA Hong Kong Country Office Chief
Thomas Ma ( "((BAM) and a team of four officials from Washington will share
their experiences in drug enforcement with local law enforcement authorities.

The four DEA agents accompanying Ma are front-line anti-drug officers, who
asked that their names be withheld from news reports for security reasons.

One hundred and sixty-five local officials, including the bur-eau's secret
agents, coast guard officials, prosecutors and officers from the National
Police Administration's Criminal Investigation Bureau and Aviation Police
Bureau are participating in the seminar.

Speaking at the seminar's open-ing yesterday, American Institute in Taiwan
Director Douglas Paal said that the US government recognizes Taiwan's
efforts in drug enforcement and that cooperation between the two countries
would continue.

"Drug dealers [are] actually taking the advantage of our freedom for their
own commercial benefits. You have seen how the US government responded
after being attacked by the terrorists on Sept. 11 last year. That's
exactly what we will do to drug dealers as well," he said.

According to Paal, the Agreement on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal
Matters (|D"AEYqak?-?U"o(c)w) has become an important and useful mechanism
since it was signed by the US and Taiwan in March.

The accord paved the way for the two nations to swap judicial and other
information, and to collaborate on tracking down fugitives, combating drug
trafficking and money laundering.

"The cooperation between the US and Taiwan authorities in dealing with
common challenges has been excellent. We hope that the best training from
the American side and the young and excellent Taiwan authorities can work
together and we're looking forward to a greater success," Paal said.

Bureau of Investigation Director Yeh Sheng-mao (,-2+/--Z) yesterday urged
the governments of different countries to work together to declare a war on
drugs.

"Since the DEA's establishment in 1973, its domestic and foreign
performance against drug dealing has become a model for other countries,"
Yeh said.

According to Yeh, how to conduct undercover work, find drugs during the
shipping or smuggling process and how to investigate and collect evidence
of money laundering activities by drug dealers will be the main focuses of
the seminar.

"Drug dealers today take advantage of high-tech equipment and advanced
skills for their business. The good thing is that the DEA also has
state-of-the-art equipment and technical expertise to deal with them [drug
dealers]," Yeh said.