Pubdate: Tue, 16 Sep 2008
Source: Bangkok Post (Thailand)
Copyright: The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2008
Contact:  http://www.bangkokpost.co.th/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/39

TERROR GANGS LINKED TO DRUGS

In recent years, the number of governments aiding  terrorists and
subversives has dwindled, and support by  the few recalcitrant regimes
has become far more  secretive. That has come largely because such
governments are internationally reviled, subject to  high-profile
United Nations sanctions and shame. As the  utter horror of terrorism
has become better known, no  government and few groups can be seen to
lend their  backing. Unfortunately, the terrorists and agents of
repression have not followed the road to  respectability. Because even
terrorism and rebellion  cost money, violent gangs have turned to
another source  of funding. Around the world, drug and terrorist gangs
  have formed links or joined up.

The evidence is clear enough. Governments and political  parties who
used to openly brag disgracefully that "the  object of terrorism is to
terrorise", now claim to be  strongly opposed to such doctrine. Libya
and North  Korea, each in their own way, have made deals to drop  all
support for terrorist gangs, as have the Irish  rebels and Japanese
gangs these regimes once openly  supported. Chinese bookstores no
longer offer Communist  Party manuals on terrorism; the last Asian
Maoist  rebels in the Philippines loudly declare that no  terrorism is
allowed, that its Manila terrorist wing  has been dismantled.

But from Afghanistan to Thailand, from Colombia to  Burma, there is
hardly any distinction any longer  between drug gangs and rebels. The
Taliban began  trafficking opium and heroin as a rogue state prior to
2001. Now the group has become one of the world's  biggest drug gangs,
while continuing to battle to  regain political control. In Colombia,
there are no  more drug cartels. Police and public opinion saw off
colourful Pablo Escobar and his ilk without a tear. But  the rebel
group known as Farc from its initials in  Spanish has become, in
effect, South America's biggest  drug cartel - financing its
opposition to the  government with big-time drug contacts.

Much the same thing has happened in Burma, with dire  danger for
Thailand and neighbouring Indian provinces.  As Thai authorities and
the government rolled up the  Burmese drug gangs of Lo Hsing-Han and
Khun Sa, for  example, groups which had been political rebels stepped
in to soil their hands. After the Burmese government  eliminated the
last of the big-time drug merchants,  trafficking gangs in Burma not
only continued - they  grew bigger.

A group of former political rebels known as the United  Wa State Army
works mostly inside Burma to sell drugs  mostly outside Burma. Once,
the UWSA were the chief  fighting arm of the Burmese Communist Party,
with close  ties to Chinese communists and known popularly as the  Red
Wa, a name still heard today.

Today, the Burma-based political-drug gang has at least  an informal
alliance with the Islamist gangs in  southern Thailand. In the past,
separatist rings had  support from outside, notably including Libya
and Iran.  With that backing removed, the often shadowy gangs have
found other ways to finance both their violence and  their
political-religious uprising - crime, and  specifically drugs. Clearly
it is profitable.

Authorities late last year seized 30 million baht  hidden under
floorboards in a Sungai Kolok district  home in Narathiwat province.
The suspected drug dealer  had known ties to the insurgents.

These days, when battling organised pro-terror groups  like the
Taliban or Thailand's southern insurgents,  security forces must also
consider drug ties. The  fastest way to a gang's defeat is through
their  funding.
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MAP posted-by: Steve Heath