MYANMAR DRUG GANG: US ANTI-TERROR TARGET

BANGKOK - In a significant policy change that could put a notorious
Myanmar-based narcotics cartel in the bull's-eye, senior American officials
said the Wa drug dealers are targets in the war against terrorism.

The Bangkok Post said in a report yesterday that the key change in the US
policy came last week, in separate testimonies by officials before a US
Senate committee.

Mr Rand Beers, assistant secretary of state for drug and law enforcement,
and Mr Francis Taylor, ambassador-at-large for counter- terrorism,
designated the United Wa State Army (UWSA) for the first time as 'a
terrorist group with known links to drug trafficking around the world'.

Until now, Washington had considered the UWSA only as a drug gang.