Pubdate: Wed, 29 Aug 2001
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Joe McDonald, Associated Press Writer

CHINA, NEIGHBORS FIGHT HEROIN

BEIJING -- Fighting a booming heroin trade, China and three Southeast Asian 
neighbors announced an agreement Tuesday to step up cross-border police 
cooperation.

The pact came after the first meeting of top anti-drug officials of a 
region where gangs that straddle borders have benefited from lack of 
coordinated enforcement.

The agreement by China and the countries of the heroin-producing "Golden 
Triangle" -- Myanmar, Laos and Thailand -- stops short of letting police 
from one country operate in another. But it commits them to sharing 
information and collaborating in tracking and arresting smugglers.

Trafficking of cheap, abundant Southeast Asian heroin into China _ and to 
foreign markets beyond -- has boomed in recent years. Gangs also are 
branching out into methamphetamines and other manufactured drugs.

The trade has fed growing violence in rugged, hard-to-police border areas. 
Chinese police say dozens of officers have been killed in gun battles with 
better-armed smugglers. Health officials say intravenous drug abuse plays a 
large role in China's spreading AIDS epidemic.

"With this mechanism, we will push drug-control cooperation to a new 
stage," Yang Fengrui, chief anti-drug official of China's police ministry, 
said of the new agreement.

The pact streamlines cross-border action, though police can't simply raid 
other countries, said Kyaw Thein, an official of the Defense Ministry of 
Myanmar, also known as Burma.

"This agreement will allow law enforcement officials to cross the border on 
short notice to discuss with their counterparts what they want to do," Kyaw 
Thein said.

The pact also promises better political cooperation. Thailand assigned its 
first anti-narcotics liaison officer to its Beijing embassy this week, said 
Rasamee Vistaveth of the country's Narcotics Control Commission.

The officials said they would share information on anti-drug treatment to 
reduce demand, and on switching opium farmers to coffee and other crops.

China, Myanmar and Thailand have cooperated on anti-drug efforts on a small 
scale since the early 1990s.

Myanmar has carried out arrests at Beijing's request, extraditing one gang 
leader to China and another to Thailand, he said.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart