KRABI : More than 200 drug addicts undergoing rehabilitation at a pondok school in Krabi's Muang district yesterday fled after learning their teachers and caregivers had allegedly beaten three rehab patients to death. The addicts escaped from the Klong Kam pondok school about 1.30pm. They converged on a mosque in the Ban Koh Klang community, located about 2km away from the school, to protest against the harsh conditions and the alleged murders of three men in rehab. Wasan Rodnual, 24, one of the escapees, said three addicts aged between 20 and 27 were beaten to death by the school's teachers and counsellors on July 23 after they tried to escape. The three were Muslims from the deep South, he said. [continues 208 words]
Thai And Lao Officials Agree To Crack Down On Drug Trafficking PATTAYA : Thai and Lao officials have agreed to step up border patrols and increase law enforcement to crack down on drug traffickers, who are now using new routes into Thailand from Burma and Laos. The agreement signed by Justice Minister Sompong Amornwiwat and Lao Minister to the President's Office Soubanh Srithirath was reached at the end of a four-day meeting on cross-border drug cooperation and control in Pattaya on Thursday. [continues 194 words]
Focus / Narcotics Suppression The new government's plan to launch its own "war on drugs" may please supporters of coalition leader People Power, a party believed to be the reincarnation of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra's disbanded Thai Rak Thai. But those opposed to the move - human rights defenders, community leaders and anti-drugs officials - are far from thrilled. The first war on drugs declared by the government of Mr Thaksin from Feb 1 to April 30, 2003 resulted in the deaths of over 2,500 so-called drug suspects. It caused an uproar among human rights activists, who viewed the crusade as giving law enforcement authorities a licence to kill, without allowing suspects recourse to due process of the law. [continues 892 words]
Investigators' Final Report Blames No One Nakhon Ratchasima - The inquiry into the extra-judicial killings during the war on drugs by those serving under the Thaksin Shinawatra government has found no evidence which would enable the punishment of those involved, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont said yesterday. More than 2,500 people are believed to have been killed. Gen Surayud said he had just received a final report from panel chairman Khanit na Nakhon stating that no one could be held to blame for the killings. [continues 253 words]
The Justice Ministry is setting up a special committee to study the Thaksin government's war on drugs and its impact on innocent victims, so that proper financial help can be extended to them and their families. Deputy justice permanent secretary Charnchao Chaiyanukij said the secretary-general of the Office of the Prime Minister sent a letter to the ministry last week instructing it to set up the committee. Mr Charnchao said the ministry had invited former attorney-general Khanit na Nakhon to chair the panel. [continues 311 words]
Human rights defenders and relatives of those killed during the February-April 2003 campaign wonder why the authorities have stopped investigating 1,639 of the 2,598 cases Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government seems less amenable to the investigation into 2,598 murder-related cases during the first war on drugs two years ago. The government's investigation panel headed by Deputy Attorney-General Praphan Naikowit recently disclosed the investigation results of the so-called shooting-to-death cases. [continues 1235 words]
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday declared a new round of a full-scale war on drugs, promising "brutal measures" against drug dealers and traffickers. "Drug dealers and traffickers are heartless and wicked. All of them must be sent to meet the guardian of hell, so that there will not be any drugs in the country," Mr Thaksin said. A lot of youngsters had fallen victim to drug dealers over the years and methamphetamines would likely make a comeback. "These things are like cancer and we have to continue to keep a close watch on them," he said. The new, one-year campaign would involve decisive action against drug dealers and traffickers. [continues 191 words]
Laos Wants Thai Help Along Border Thailand, Burma, China, India and Laos have agreed on the need for tax exemptions for goods and agricultural products made under development projects in Burma and Laos, launched to substitute narcotic drug production. The decision was made at an international meeting on cooperation against drugs, with China and India considered the most likely potential markets for those products. Rassamee Wisthawes, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, who led the Thai delegation, said the tax exemptions would help those goods and products compete with locally-made ones. [continues 191 words]
Crop substitution schemes get push Trade in precursor chemicals top worry Controls on chemicals used to produce illicit drugs and the promotion of crop substitution schemes will top the agenda of a three-day regional meeting on drug suppression this week in Pattaya. Senior drug officials from Burma, China, India, Laos and Thailand will attend the meeting that begins on Wednesday. The talks are a follow-up to the first meeting held in Chiang Rai last July. Rassamee Wisthawes, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, said she will propose discussions on how best to control the smuggling of precursor chemicals from one country to another. [continues 164 words]
Relatives of about 2,500 drug suspects killed during the government's war on drugs last year can claim compensation under the Compensation Payment for Crime Victims and Suspects of Wrongful Conviction Act, a senior Justice Ministry official said. Charnchao Chaiyanukij, the director-general of the Rights and Liberties Protection Department, said they would get compensation if they could prove in court that their relatives were innocent victims of the campaign to clean up drugs. It was in line with the Constitution, which guarantees the rights and liberties of suspects or defendants in criminal cases. [continues 76 words]
Thailand will host the 4th Asean ministerial meeting on transnational crime on Jan 7-10 to seek cooperation in the fight against increasing transnational crimes across the region. ''Shared Responsibility towards Common Security'' is the theme of the meeting set by Thailand. China, Japan and South Korea have been invited to attend for the first time. Thailand will present proposals on cooperation in law enforcement, intelligence sharing, immigration control, and drugs suppression. Thailand said closer ties could lead to a working group being set up to harmonise the laws of each Asean country. [continues 173 words]
Those Suspected Of Drug Crimes Are Now To Be Sent For Rehabilitation Rather Than To Court And A Term In Prison If Convicted. Those all-too-common newspaper and television images of drug-crazed men holding a child and/or woman hostage are expected to become a thing of the past should the new Drug Addict Rehabilitation Act help reduce the number of drug-related crimes. The Act, which came into effect on March 3, is the first of its kind in Thailand and, as such, it has been the subject of wide debate among probation officers, the police and the wider community. [continues 1328 words]
Agencies Not Passing Over Information The National Centre to Defeat Drugs is having trouble getting information because most state agencies have not bothered to send in reports in the last month. The agencies preferred to report direct to their bosses even though NCDD chairman, Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, had told them to report to the centre. ``Little information comes to us each day and what we do get lacks depth. ``We know that agencies are withholding information because they are competing with one another,'' a source at the centre said. [continues 165 words]
Six Suspects Dead, Four Shot By Police The opposition has warned the government against condoning extra- judicial killings in the war on drugs, after a weekend in which six drug suspects were killed, four by police. The Democrats say a campaign of secret killings would create a climate of fear and possibly lead to international trade boycotts. Jaran Dithapichai, a human rights commissioner, said his panel fielded complaints every year about alleged police executions of drug suspects, masked as justified shootings. [continues 447 words]
Chinese Haws Send Pills To Thai Workers Chinese Haws in northern border villages use connections with their relatives in Taiwan to export illicit drugs for sale to Thai workers there, a military source says. The drug business had been detected at villages in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, which once housed refugee camps for remnants of the Kuomintang -- former Chinese nationalists who fled Taiwan 50 years ago. Most Kuomintang members escaped the fighting to Taiwan, but some also settled here. The settlers in Thailand have maintained contacts with relatives in Taiwan and send their children to study there. [continues 520 words]
Police want to prosecute more drug suspects, and have asked the government to increase the number of drug-specialist investigators in every province from next year. National police chief Pol Gen Sant Sarutanont said yesterday most current investigators did not specialise in drug cases. Hence, they faced many problems regarding inquiries into small and medium-scale drug suspects. Pol Gen Sant said the investigators lacked expertise and field experience, and were not careful in their investigations, which was why prosecutors often dropped charges against suspects. [continues 145 words]
Rangoon Asked to Stop Heroin Dealers, But Wrong Man Shot A police drugs "sting" went badly wrong when Burmese officials shot a Thai informant and seized nearly 38kg of heroin in Burma's Tachilek border town _ following a tip-off from Thai border authorities. Now the Narcotics Suppression Division is asking Burma to hand back the informant, who was wounded. Pol Maj-Gen Adithep Panjamanont, the division commander, said the arrest and shooting of Noppakhun Duangkham, 27, by Burmese security officials on April 1 was a misunderstanding. [continues 422 words]
A law is needed if police powers to arrest suspects in drug conspiracies are to be widened, says the Narcotics Control Board. The change should not take the form of an amendment to the present law, in which the ONCB must approve police requests for a warrant, it said. The Narcotics Suppression Bureau's new head, Inthadej Pornpeeraphan, called for wider police powers on Monday. Kitti Limchaikij, the board's secretary-general, said a new law was the easiest way of going about it. [continues 154 words]
Soldiers Accused Of Savage Beatings In their zeal to suppress drug trafficking, authorities have resorted to torture and murder of hilltribe suspects, victims and relatives charge. Ateh Amoh, an Akha man, said he was savagely beaten by soldiers who took him and other Akha men, mostly drug users, from their homes and held them at a military camp. There they beat them to extract a confession, he said. His neighbour, Ajuuh Cheh Muuh Gooh, 42, died from the beating. The authorities denied any wrongdoing and said Mr Ajuuh's death was caused by withdrawal symptoms as a result of his attempt to end his opium habit during a detoxification programme. [continues 951 words]
Firing Is Not The Proper Solution International studies show the majority of drug users in Asian countries are in their prime _ below the age of 45 _ and are gainfully employed in the work force, a seminar was told yesterday. Tay Bian How, director of the Columbo Plan Drug Advisory Programme (DAP), said more businesses were facing more drug problems on their premises than ever before. Statistics released by DAP showed 85% of drug abusers in Asia were employed. They were people between 19- 45 years old. [continues 356 words]
