From all over Shan State, reports have begun to arrive that poppy cultivation is back, as early as August in the south and east, but only recently in the north.

While authorities have warned that poppies must be grown “at the nape” (out of sight) and “not on the forehead” (within sight), many fields are still visible from the motor roads, as in Hopan-Hokhieng area, south of the Mongpan-Mongton road, according to new arrivals of migrants in Chiangmai.

The family of Naw Kham, the godfather of the now defunct Mekong protection racket who is awaiting court decision in China’s Yunnan province, has recently engaged a solicitor in Hong Kong to act on his behalf, according to a source close to his family.

Worried of their children becoming drug users, women in Muse township’s Mongpaw tract are up in arms against both drug addicts and peddlers, according to sources coming to the Sino-Burmese border.

Made up mostly of Kachin and Shan women, the group, since 4 months ago,

According to Aung Kyaw Zaw, Burmese military watcher on the Sino-Burmese border, the visit to Kengtung last Saturday, 6 October of Vice Senior Gen Min Aung Hlaing to meet Wa and Mongla leaders, might be more about the Burma Army’s military objectives than just drugs.

The Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) , commonly known as SSA North, that is facing an ultimatum to withdraw from another stronghold, will be meeting government representatives from the Union Peacemaking Work Committee (UPWC) soon, according to a highly-placed SSA source.

Leaders of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) held meetings with Burma Army commanders led by Commander in Chief Min Aung Hlaing on Saturday, 6 October, to discuss cooperation against drugs, according to reports from the Sino-Burmese border.

A Thai court might acquit Golden Triangle Godfather Naw Kham if he had been tried in Thailand and not in China, according to a lawyer in Chiangmai.

Comparing Naw Kham, who is awaiting court decision in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, with a multi-murder suspect in Thailand whose story has captured the headlines for weeks, the lawyer, who asked not to be named, said:

One of the three prime suspects who are going on trial in China for the 5 October killing of 13 Chinese sailors on the Golden Triangle is Yilai or Yin Lang as the Chinese pronounce his name.

According to the former Mong Tai Army (MTA) fighters of the late Khun Sa (1934-2007), once dubbed “Lord of the Golden Triangle”, Yilai, age around 56-60, used to be the leader of the Nahai Long People’s Militia Force (PMF) in Mong Lane tract, Talerh sub-township, Tachilek district.