Chiang Rai News

Drug Scourge Clouding Myanmar

Saw Lah Pwe (centre), the leader of a breakaway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, salutes as he arrives for a press conference in Myawaddy, Karen state, Myanmar, close to the border with Thailand, recently. Saw countered Thai accusations that one of the Karen leaders was engaged in drug dealing, asking the Myanmar government to arrest the Karen leader to face drug charges. AP pic

CHIANGRAI TIMES – THE good news coming out of Myanmar these days is of reform and reconciliation as it moves from military dictatorship to fledgling democracy. But what is coming across Myanmar’s border into Thailand is a surge of illicit drugs.

One of Myanmar’s biggest businesses — heroin and methamphetamine manufacturing — is thriving in the area along the border known as the Golden Triangle, led by members of well-armed minority ethnic groups.

“They are pushing out a vast amount of pills,” said Maj Gen Somsak Nilbanjerdkul, director of a command centre set up by the Thai government to coordinate anti-drug efforts. “Democracy is flourishing in Myanmar, but illegal activities are moving to areas where there is a lack of law and order.”

The increase in drug trafficking underlines the depth of the challenges facing Myanmar, as President Thein Sein pushes ahead with his agenda for change. Impoverished areas where the central government has little control remain the largest base of drug production in Southeast Asia. If he cracks down on drug syndicates, Thein Sein, who was previously a military commander in the Golden Triangle, risks alienating the ethnic groups he is trying to woo for his programme of national rebuilding.

In the dark underworld of illicit drugs, no one can say for sure what is causing the upswing in trafficking, but Thai officials describe at least part of the increase as a kind of perverse peace dividend.

Thein Sein, who has been in power for 13 months, has pushed hard, and in many cases succeeded, in signing ceasefire agreements with rebel forces. “They don’t need to fight any more,” said Thanut Choommanoo, the head of a Thai police investigative unit, “so they’ve deployed their soldiers into drug production.”

Somsak offers another explanation. He says there is a continued mistrust between the Myanmar government and ethnic groups and a feeling among traffickers that they had better make money from illegal activities while they can.

“They are unsure about what reconciliation means for them,” he said. “They need to sell their illegal stuff — as much as possible.”

Cultivation of opium has been on the rise for several years, well before the democratic initiatives got under way. Analysts say farmers in the Golden Triangle area are returning to opium because prices have risen again in recent years and after previous government efforts to encourage them to switch to food crops proved insufficiently profitable.

But the most significant growth appears to be with the pill trade.

Thai authorities seized 31.3 million methamphetamine pills from October through March — a 45 per cent increase from a year earlier, when 21.6 million pills were seized, according to a recently published Thai government report.

Part of this increase is from more aggressive policing, Thanut said, but it is “undeniable that more drugs are crossing the border”.

Traffickers are using a variety of methods to get their drugs through. Often armed with grenades, they travel down small paths that cut through jungle-covered mountains. Some hide drugs in trucks carrying produce.

Last year, the police found 2 million methamphetamine pills hidden under a pile of pumpkins. Smaller drug deliveries are simply tossed across the border. The Sai River, which separates the two countries, is so narrow that traffickers can throw bags of pills to the Thai side, where accomplices pick them up.

For decades, opium and its derivative, heroin, were the main specialties of drug gangs in the Golden Triangle, which is defined by the area where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet.

Drug syndicates began focusing more on methamphetamines in the 1990s, when Afghanistan increased opium production. But over the past five years, opium farming, which is the main source of income for many villages in northern Myanmar, has rebounded, according to the annual survey released by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

Last year, as the democratic initiatives of Thein Sein were taking hold, opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar increased 14 per cent, the fifth consecutive annual increase, according to the survey, which is conducted using satellite imagery and helicopter surveillance.

Much of northern Myanmar is mountainous and ill served by roads, making it relatively easy to conceal illicit activity. But the large area dedicated to growing opium poppies — 43,600 hectares, or about 100,000 acres, according to the United Nations — suggests that the local authorities are at best turning a blind eye to drug production.

Somsak said Myanmar officials along the border were “absolutely” implicated in the drug trade. Myanmar officials often drive cars that cost the equivalent of US$100,000, he said.

“Their salaries are actually lower than our sergeants,”` Somsak said. “Where do they get the money from?”

The relationship between the Myanmar government and drug trafficking is complex and intertwined in the delicate politics between the Bamar majority in Myanmar and the many other ethnic groups, who have fought the military on and off for five decades.

Government-allied militias in the north, officially called People’s Militia Forces, are big players in the drug business. The government has supported these groups for years as a way to counterbalance the power of the largest ethnic minority groups, including the Wa, Kachin and Shan, all of which have large private armies.

But Wichai Chaimongkhon, director of the northern office of Thailand’s Narcotics Control Board, a civilian agency that oversees the anti-drug efforts along the border with Myanmar, says illicit drug trafficking is even more prolific in areas outside the government’s control.

“Most of the drug production factories are in special zones,” he said, referring to areas controlled by ethnic groups. “It’s beyond the ability of its government to enforce the law there

Chiang Rai News

Chiang Rai Man Kills Woman’s Infant Daughter When She Refuses His Sexual Advances

Police in Wiang Kaen District of Chiang Rai Province have arrested a 50 year old man after the threatened to rape a 20 year-old woman and the proceeded to murder her 2 and half month old baby.

Police with doctors from Wiang Kaen Hospital and the Chao Luang Wiang Kaen Welfare Association were summoned to the scene of the incident to a 2-story cement house, Village No. 2, Tha Kham Subdistrict, Wiang Kaen District of Chiang Rai

On arrival they found Ms. Chanikarn, age 20, in a state of distress crying uncontrollably beside her 2 and a half month baby girl (Linlada) that was dead on the floor.

After calming Ms. Chanikarn, the child’s mother, said that at approximately 2:30 p.m she was out to collect diapers that had been dried in front of the house, while her 2 and a half month old daughter was sleep on the ground floor of the house.

She said she was suddenly approached by a Mr. Lee, about 40 years old, who lived on the opposite side of the road. He came towards her and grabbed her arm and threatened her saying if she didn’t sleeping with him he will go and kill his daughter.

Miss Chanikan refused and ran away, then Mr. Lee then walked into the house and grabbed Ms. Linlada’s leg, smashing the child’s head against the cement floor of the house. The infant died immediately.

Mr. Lee then just walked away and returned to his own home, leaving Miss Chanikan and her dead baby.

When police went to Mr. Lee’s home he immediately confessed killing the infant and was taken to Wiang Kaen Police Station for further questioning. Under caution he told police that he was sexually attracted to Miss Chanikan‘s and when her husband leave for work he took the opportunity to approach her.

He said when he saw her husband leave he crossed that road and found Miss Chanikan in the yard alone, he then threatened her to sleep with him, saying he would kill her child if she didn’t have sex with him. However when she refused he flew into a fit of rage walked into her home and murdered he baby. He said he was out of control with rage.

After killing the infant he walk across the street to his home and waited for the police to arrive. The police have charged him with premeditated murder and attempted rape. He is being held without bail at the local remand center.

Meanwhile, Miss Chanikan and her family were preparing a religious burial ceremony for the child.

Other Chiang Rai News:

Machete Wielding Man Shot an Killed by Police in Chiang Rai

https://www.chiangraitimes.com/chiangrai-news/machete-wielding-man-shot-an-killed-by-police-in-chiang-rai/

Chiang Rai News

Police in Chiang Rai Launch Crackdown on Cyber Criminals in Golden Triangle

CHIANG RAI: Prime Minister Settha Thavisin has authorized the establishment of an emergency cyber center operated by the Royal Thai Police to combat transnational crimes committed by call center gangs along the Thai border in Chiang Rai province.

On July 19, Prime Minister Settha Thavisin directed the Center to combat information technology crimes. The Royal Thai Police (Royal Thai Police) will crack down on call center gangs in Myanmar, Laos, and along the border.

His directive comes as call center gangs ratchet up their scams to defraud people of their money, causing concern among Thais and jeopardizing the country’s economic and social stability.

Pol. Gen. Kittirat Panphet, Deputy Commander and Director of the Police Crime Suppression Division, Assigned Pol. Lt. Gen. Thatchai Pitanilabut, Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Police/Deputy Director of the Police Crime Suppression Division, has launched the operation ‘Bombing the Thieves’ Bridge’ in collaboration with the CAT Office, G., mobile phone network operators AIS DTAC TRUE NT, and local security agencies to cut the mobile phone signal and WiFi internet that criminals illegally use to deceive Thai citizens.

Pol. Gen. Kittirat Panphet, Deputy Commander and Director of the Police Crime Suppression Division

Pol. Lt. Gen. Thatchai stated that they will begin pressing the first action of the ‘Explosion of Thieves’ Bridge’ in Chiang Rai Province toward the thieves’ base of operations in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone.

The territory surrounding King Roman in Laos. King Roman is now a full-service entertainment destination with an airport that welcomes travelers from Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, he explained.

According to Pol. Lt. Gen. Thatchai, this operation will have no influence on honest people along the Thai border, and it will only target cyber criminals.

They will also increase the arrest and prosecution of unlawful service towers, such as SIM booths, which allow gangs register SIM cards to swindle the people. Dealing with criminal organizations of foreigners and Thais who band together to deceive and damage Thais.

Pol. Gen. Kittirat Panphet, Deputy Commander and Director of the Police Crime Suppression Division

The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) suspended more than three million SIM cards on July 16 because the holders had not verified their identities with their mobile phone operators by the deadline, in accordance with the NBTC’s measures to combat alleged fraudsters’ mule accounts.

The names of the holders of 80 million mobile phone numbers used for mobile banking transactions did not match the names associated with the mobile banking accounts.

The NBTC would require mobile phone companies to authenticate SIM card holders and the names of their mobile banking accounts. The verification procedure is expected to be completed by the end of September this year.

In addition, the NBTC and Royal Thai Police have collaborated to combat illegal telecom towers throughout the country’s borders, disconnecting signals at 465 places, altering antenna direction at 470 towers, and dismantling antennas at 179 locations.

They are certain that the move will disrupt contact center gangs and other types of technology-based crime.

Other Chiang Rai News:

Machete Wielding Man Shot an Killed by Police in Chiang Rai

https://www.chiangraitimes.com/chiangrai-news/machete-wielding-man-shot-an-killed-by-police-in-chiang-rai/

Chiang Rai News

Machete Wielding Man Shot an Killed by Police in Chiang Rai

Police in Mae Chan, Chiang Rai, shot and killed a 28-year-old man who allegedly attacked a police officer with a machete. The officer was slashed in the right leg with the machete.

According to police, the culprit, known only as Mr. Toon, had been harassing local villagers in Mae Chan district, Chiang Rai, threatening them with a knife and using violet insults.

The village headman arrived on the scene to try to calm Mr. Toon, but he was shouting hysterically and taking swipes at him with the machete, so he contacted the police.

When the responding officer arrived at the site about 9 p.m., he attempted to calm the man, but he instead assaulted the officer, slashing his right leg with the machete. In self-defense, the cop had to fire his gun at Mr. Toon, striking him in the chest.

Mr. Toon and the policeman were taken to Mae Chan Hospital, where Mr. Toon died of a gunshot wound. Pol Sgt. Sutthikiat Phanomphraisakul was released from the hospital after receiving numerous stitches for his injuries.

Local police received a tip around 9.30 p.m. yesterday that a guy was causing mayhem in the village. When authorities arrived, they discovered 28-year-old Toon strolling along a public road, holding a large knife and threatening people. Mae Chan district officials attempted to contain the incident.

During a search of Mr. Toon’s home, authorities discovered methamphetamine consumption equipment. Locals told authorities that the man was addicted to Yaba (Methamphetamine) and an alcoholic.

The authorities are conducting an inquiry to determine Toon’s motivations and whether any underlying issues contributed to his violent outburst.