CHINA GETS SERIOUS IN DRUG WAR

The Foreign Ministry has warned Thais not to get involved in drug
trafficking in China - or expect long, hard prison sentences.

The ministry warning cited the heavy punishment likely to be taken on
Thais if they are caught in China for being involved in drugs
trafficking.

The Thai consulate-general for Guangzhou and Shanghai said 20 Thais
had been arrested in China since mid-2006.

Customs officers at the two cities' airports have now imposed
stringent surveillance on Thai passengers travelling from third
countries - especially from South Asia and the Middle East, with a
transit in Bangkok and Hong Kong before entering China, the reports
said.

Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat said Chinese law is very strict,
with hefty punishments from a 15-year jail term to life imprisonment
for traffickers of 50 grammes of heroin and the death sentence for
those smuggling 200 grammes or more.

"Thai people might easily be duped or convinced that after smuggling
narcotics into China they will be well-paid upon their return to Thailand.

"But the fact is that they will be heavily penalised, to the highest
level of capital punishment," he said