2005

Images

 

Cousin Bao: A profile

 

Army runs protection racket in poppy land

 

Beyond the deadline: Do Wa have what it takes?

 

China losing patience

 

Farmers exultant over alien poppy strain

 

Residents flee UN project areas

 

Drug accused spurns charges

 

Loyalist casinos busted

 

Law still free, alive and kicking

 

Firework keeps all happy

 

Financier weathers regime change

 

Shan nabbed, 1 killed

 

Opium galore in the north

 

Opium figures: Worlds apart

Before 1962, the year the military took over the reins of government, poppy growing was unheard of apart from the Shan State. But now, poppy planting in 4 other states (Karenni, Kachin, Chin and Arakan) and 3 divisions (Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe) are being recorded ...

UN top food provider to visit Burma

James Morris, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Program, is scheduled to be in military-ruled Burma, 1-6 August, according to its Bangkok-based regional bureau officials ...

Wa leader on the run: Wei no friend of mine

 

Wa relocations resume

 

Opium ban spells disaster for 2 million people in Burma

 

UN food programme hangs on

 

Drug factories withdraw from the Triangle

Wei was speaking to UWSA commanders returning form the Loi Taileng front across Maehongson where they were encountering stiff resistance from the Shan State Army.

Wei Number Two and a Half in Panghsang

 

Wa having the last fling

 

Wei crony detained

U Tar Wai, who grew up in Kengtung and speak fluent Shan, had developed intimate relationships with the official circle and it was through his solicitations that the MUB founders had won official sanction to set up their bank, said one ...

press release book Trouble in Triangle.doc

 

Pocket druglord gets away with it

 

Army shelling raises false alarm

“The shelling came from the Burma Army base in Nawngleng,” said the source, a high ranking SSA officer. “But in the three Wa bases facing our positions, we found no preparations for an imminent attack. In fact, each of their bases has been manned by no more than 50 Wa fighters since their last assault (on 26 April).”

Poppy fields forever in Shan south

Opium price, 280,000 kyat ($ 280) per viss during harvest time in February - March, has already bounced up to 300,000 ($ 300) by mid-year ...

Wa convoy intercepted

The incident took place at a point 8-miles east of Mongpiang, the town between the Salween in the west and Kengtung in the east ...

Bao Youri.jpg

 

[···]

 

Drug stained group gets credit with Thailand

The Karen splinter group, long considered a drug smuggling organization in Thailand, handed over one of the most wanted criminals taking refuge in Burma back to Thailand on 2 October, reported Bangkok-based Khom Chad Luek daily yesterday...

Opium prices increase 100 fold in Kayah

“Ten years ago, I was paid 300 kyat ($3) per viss (1.6 kg),” Tu Reh, a villager in Loikaw township, told border-based Karenni Anti-Drug Action Committee. “But now they are offering 280,000 ($280) 300,000 kyat ($300).”

Gamblers don’t need casinos

“There are also at least two gambling dens in Namkham (25 miles away),” said a gambler, “and this is in spite of the district officer (Lt-Col) Soe Win’s warning on 27 August that gambling is illegal.”

There's no business like drugs in Muse

Business in Muse, Shan State's northernmost city, opposite China's Ruili has been getting to an all-time low, where the only people that remain unruffled are gambling and drug operators, report Hawkeye from the border...

With Beijing breathing down Wa necks

Despite the mishap last month when more than 400 kilograms of their heroin consignment was seized by the Burma Army, the Wa on the Sino-Burma border are doing their best to live up to their pledge of establishing a drug-free zone, according to sources from Panghsang...

Thai papers confirm record haul

 

Pitaya Jinawat.jpg

 

Wa supremo protege among those apprehended

Ta Pan, Commander of Mongyawn-based 2518th Independent Regiment, according to sources, is an adopted son of Bao Youri, eldest brother of Bao Youxiang, the United Wa State Army's supreme commander and leader. The 2518th is formerly known as 894th Independent Regiment under Wei Hsaitang, who is currently languishing in Panghsang prison for treason and manufacturing of counterfeit banknotes...

Breaking News

A squad of police who visited the Sino-Burma border village of Kunhai in Namkham township was fired upon by some unknown armed men at 10:00. Three policemen were hit, said S.H.A.N. source...

Wa business firm signs removed

All the way from Kengtung, 160 km away, to Tachilek, just across the border from Thailand's Maesai, the United Wa State Army's Hongpang Group signs are no longer seen, according to travelers from Kengtung. This was confirmed by a source close to the Army...

Wa business firm still on the go

The Hongpang Group of the United Wa State Army in Tachilek, opposite Maesai, is still in operation despite the removal of its signboards as ordered by the Kengtung-based Triangle Region authorities, reports Pegasus from the border...

Shooting in Namkham.jpg

 

Chinese TV reports on drug bust in Burma

Shan sources on the Sino-Burma border say last month's drug seizure in Burma's Shan State was on yesterday's Chinese TV news coverage...

Update: Police on milking mission shot by suspect

One police officer was killed and two others wounded yesterday during an attempt to extort payment from a drug suspect who has been on the loose since, according to sources from the Sino-Burma border...

Wa getting away with it

The United Wa State Army will not be held responsible for the 496 kg heroin bust that caught one of its top members red-handed last month, according to a highly-placed source who recently returned from Rangoon...

Book names alleged Thai traffickers

A recently released book by a Thai academic has named 11 Thais who are known or suspected to have been involved in drug trafficking...

Shan druglord associate nabbed

Banyong Lawka "Jit", believed by police authorities as a business partner of Maha Ja, reputed as former druglord Khun Sa's successor, was arrested on Sunday, 19 November, at his house in Maehongson, report Thai papers...

From Hongpang to Xinghong

The beleaguered Wa business firm has changed its label from Hongpang (Great State) to Xinghong (Thriving Greatness), said a source close to the Wa this morning...