CAMBODIA NOW A MAJOR HEROIN SMUGGLING ROUTE TO WEST

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia is emerging as a major transit country for drug
trafficking from Southeast Asia to the West as the infamous Golden Triangle
replaces Afghanistan as the world's top producer of heroin, U.N. and local
officials said on Friday.

They said a hefty 200 kg (440 lbs) of heroin was crossing Cambodia's
borders each month, much higher than previous years, with most of it ending
up in Australia, Japan, Europe and the United States.

Cambodian authorities seized just 10 kg of heroin during 2001.

"Cambodia is most certainly a backdoor out of the Golden Triangle," said
Graham Shaw of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime
Prevention in Cambodia.

The Golden Triangle refers to where the borders of Thailand, Laos and
Myanmar meet.

Shaw said the U.N. has received "very reliable" information that some 200
kg of heroin and up to three million amphetamine tablets were being
smuggled from neighbouring Laos into northern Cambodia each month.

"It's because of Cambodia's proximity to the Golden Triangle, the ease with
which drugs can enter the country and the involvement of law enforcement
officials," he told Reuters.

The majority of the heroin entering Cambodia is smuggled by boat down the
Mekong River to Vietnam and then the rest of the world.

Most of the cheaply produced amphetamine pills are consumed locally in the
capital Phnom Penh, Shaw said.

Amphetamines can be purchased for just over one U.S. dollar in Phnom Penh
and are even cheaper in provincial areas.

Police have also reported heroin prices on the streets of Cambodia as some
of the cheapest in the world. In Phnom Penh, one gram of heroin costs
around $17.

That is several dollars cheaper than in neighbouring Vietnam and Thailand
and some $100 below prices in the United Kingdom, Shaw said.

"The price is getting cheaper and cheaper as the months go by," Shaw said.

Amphetamine Use Surges

Amphetamine addiction is on the rise in Cambodia, showing signs of reaching
similar proportions as in Thailand, where official estimates show four
percent of Thais are addicted to illicit drugs, Shaw said.

Police General Teng Savong, director-general of Cambodia's National
Authority for Combating Drugs, said the country was now a major transit
route for drugs.

"The Golden Triangle is now the main source of drugs smuggled through
Cambodia to the West," he told Reuters. "They import and re-export from
here, but we don't how much."

Teng Savong said corrupt Cambodian authorities, including police and
military, were involved in the trafficking networks.

"It makes me very worried about our anti-drug operations," the police
general said.