BANGKOK: Thailand has joined neighbours to clamp down on cross-border drug trafficking and it is leading in a four-nation initiative seeking to combat narcotics smuggling along the Mekong River’s notorious Golden Triangle.
“Thailand alone cannot solve the widespread problem of drug trafficking along the river as the drugs are coming in from neighbouring countries,” Thai Justice Minister Gen. Paiboon Koomchaya said. Permpong Chaovalit, secretary-general of Thailand’s Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), estimates the Mekong accounts for more than 30% of drug smuggling in the region.
Establishment of the SMCC he added, was important for authorities to stay on top of the fast-evolving situation. The initiative has borne fruit. Since SMCC operations began January 15th, the four nations reported nearly 600 arrests and by February 10th, river patrol police had cracked 590 drug-related cases in the river basin. A total of 841 suspects were arrested according to SMCC figures. He added it would take time and a large integrated plan of action with international assistance to replace the drug-dependent Golden Triangle economy.
Col. Watcharapong Kaewchang, chief of the Pha Muang Force, northern Thailand’s drug enforcement agency, said drug producers usually hire gangs to drop their drugs near Muang Yon Mai, Burma, where they are collected by drug mules who carry them on foot through forested areas and over the border. “We are trying to stop the mules to cut the link to the smuggling network,” Watcharapong said.
Between February 5th and February 11th, Thai police arrested 172 people in drug-related busts in the northern provinces of Chiang Rai and Phayao. In the operation, which followed intelligence reports that traffickers would smuggle drugs into Chiang Rai through the Mekong River, 160 locations were raided in the two provinces, said Thanitsak Teerasawat, chief of Provincial Police Region 5. Almost 450,000 methamphetamine tablets were recovered in the raids.
Thanitsak said authorities also seized mostly property assets valued at about Bt. 100m ($3m) following the raids. Also, India, South Korea, Cambodia and Vietnam joined with Thailand, Laos, China and Burma to form a joint taskforce to tighten control over precursor chemicals used in illegal narcotics manufacturing. Thailand will co-ordinate the taskforce, while the UNODC will help oversee the workflow, according to the ONCB’s Permpong Chaovalit. The news was announced February 10th at the close of a two-day meeting in Bangkok attended by nearly 100 drug enforcement officials and the UNODC.
