CityNews – Thailand has asked neighbouring Burma for help in arresting 10 drug suspects believed to be hiding there.
Yaba or methamphetamine pills are commonly smuggled from Burma into Thailand. CityNews stock photo.
They include key suspects in narcotic syndicates in the north and suspected methamphetamine kingpin Lt-Col Yi Se, MCOT public broadcaster reported. Yi Se is the alleged leader of an armed Lahu group in Burma.
Permpong Chaovalit, secretary-general of the Office of Narcotics Control Board, was reported as saying that the Burmese government had difficulty finding suspects in areas controlled by ethnic groups.
Permpong added that Thailand, China, Myanmar and Laos will next month launch a joint campaign against drug trafficking in the Mekong region, where ethnic groups control some areas. Only around 20 percent of narcotics transported through the river areas had been blocked, he said.
There are two main routes by which drugs are trafficked into Thailand, Permpong said – by land through Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces, and via the Mekong river and Laos to the northeast.