Upsurge across the border expected

No.01 - 9/2007
5 September 2007
Drugs
 
Upsurge across the border expected
 
The Golden Triangle, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), may be almost opium free, but areas along the Thai-Burma border appear to have no inkling of it, says a report that recently reached S.H.A.N.
 
More people are leaving their homes inside forbidden zones to go to the mountains and valleys too far for inquisitive eyes to grow poppies, according to the report that covers drug activities in Monghsat district, opposite Thailand's Maehongson, Chiangmai and Chiangrai provinces.
 
The district of Monghsat, made up of three townships: Mongton, Monghsat and Mongpiang, except for some 20 Thais involved in the Tasang dam project, is virtually free from nosey outsiders, though just next door to the kingdom that had waged a bloody war on drugs 4 years earlier.

 

"To be sure, the Wa, since their drug free declaration in 2005, have been tough on farmers inhabiting areas under their control," the report says, "but fields under the Burma Army control were strictly left alone."
 
For instance, fields near Hpakhpem, under the control of Light Infantry Battalion 527, and those along the Namhsim, under the control of Infantry Battalion 278, were left untouched, a Monghsat resident was reported as saying.
 
One of the main incentives, apart from the alleged protection by the Burma Army, was the surge in both the opium and heroin prices:
 
                                2005-2006 season                               2006-2007 season
Opium -                      8,000-10,000 baht/viss                        12,000 baht($325)/viss
                                 ($215-270)                                        up to 18,000 baht ($485)                                                                                          after the season
 
Heroin-                       80,000-110,000 baht/kg                      130,000 baht/kg
(block form)                ($2,150-2,970)                                   ($3,510)
 
Heroin-                       120,000-130,000 baht/kg                    160,000 baht/kg
(powder form)             ($3,240-3,510)                                   ($4,325)
 
The farmers paid 500-800 baht ($13.5-21.5) per viss to the pro-junta militia. "It was understood that the Burma Army units had a share in it," says the report, "though no farmers we interviewed were sure how much."
 
The biggest refineries are said to be in the hills north of Punako, Mongtoom tract, between Monghsat and Tachilek. Inner security is provided by the militia led by Ai Long and Ja-Ngoi and the outer security by Light Infantry Battalions (LIBs) 553 and 554, stationed in Mongtoom.
 
Another refinery is believed to be at a location east of Mongyawn, under the Wa control, opposite Chiangmai's Mae Ai district.
 
"The Wa no longer allow their people to grow poppies," said one of the residents who makes his living as a trucker, "but some are still seen buying opium for refining."
 
Some of the richest drug barons, little known from the outside world, live in this area: Ai Long, Ja-Ngoi, Ya Derh, Ah Ji Hsi, Hsi Mon and Ja-Eu, among others.
 
"I was born here," said a 30-year old native of Monghsat. "Everyday I see people being caught and jailed for using drugs. But I have yet to see any substitution project or even a treatment center here in my whole life."
 
The availability of drugs, he adds, depends "only on whether or not you can pay":

• opium             0.01 viss                   8,000-10,000 kyat ($6.2-7.7)
• Heroin            1 penicillin bottle        10,000 kyat ($7.7)
• Yaba(methamphetamine) 1 pill          500-700 kyat ($0.4-0.6)

One viss is 1.6 kg.  

According to Janya Sramatcha, Director of Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board northern branch, opium output in areas opposite northern Thailand during the coming season is expected to produce about 9 tones of heroin.