Thai electricity running Myanmar drug plants: General

Thai electricity running Myanmar drug plants: General

BANGKOK (Reuters): A Thai general called on Monday for
Thailand to stop selling electricity to military-ruled Myanmar,
saying Myanmar authorities were supplying the power to drug
factories.

Lt. Gen. Wattanachai Chaimuanwong told a radio station
electricity Thailand was supplying to the northeast Myanmar
border town of Tachilek was powering machines for making
methamphetamines run by an ethnic minority militia group.

"Of course, they (the Myanmar militia group) power their drug-
making machines with electricity, otherwise they can't make 700
to 800 million tablets (a year). Therefore Thailand should stop
selling electricity to Myanmar," Wattanachai said.

Wattanachai, often a vocal critic of the Myanmar military, is
commander of Thailand's third army region which includes the
northern border with Myanmar.

His remarks, analysts said, could lead to a new round in a war
of words between the neighbors, who share a 2,400 km border.

Clashes between Thai and Myanmar border forces erupted in
February but tension was eased somewhat by regional-level talks
between the two sides earlier this month.

Thailand, once notorious for being a major conduit and
supplier of heroin, now faces a growing problem with
methamphetamines, produced, officials say, by the United Wa State
Army (UWSA), a Myanmar's ethnic minority militia force based in
Shan State.

Wattanachai said Thai electricity supplied to Tachilek was
being passed on to UWSA headquarters in Mong Yawn, 80 km
southwest of Tachilek.

Floods of pills

Thai drug suppression agencies estimate the number of
methamphetamine stimulant tablets, known in its crystallized form
in the West as "ice," flowing into Thailand this year would leap
to 800 million pills from 500 million in 2000.

The UWSA was formed by ethnic Wa fighters who mutinied against
their leaders in the anti-government Communist Party of Burma in
1989, set up their own force and then signed a ceasefire pact
with Yangon.

The UWSA, granted a degree of autonomy under the deal with
Yangon, has helped the Myanmar army in its fight against
separatist Shan guerrillas. But the Yangon government says it has
no control over its ally.

Last week Thai forces in the northern border town of Mae Sai,
opposite Tachilek, blocked a convoy of trucks carrying lignite
power generation equipment from China, from crossing into
Myanmar. It released them on Sunday.

Some Thai officials have said they believe the equipment is
bound for the UWSA, while others have said they were concerned
about pollution from a power plant affecting communities on the
Thai side of the border.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told reporters on
Monday he was concerned electricity from the new plant would
accelerate methamphetamine production and supply to Thailand.
"I am concerned about that," he said.

Thaksin has said Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai
will raise the power plant issue during a two-day visit to
Myanmar starting on May 1.

Yangon on Monday denied allegations that the new power plant
belonged to the UWSA and said a halt to the sale of electricity
would be bad for the local economy.

"The power plant has nothing to do with the United Wa State
Army...(but belongs) to a private company called the Golden
Triangle Hydro Power Public Co Ltd," a Myanmar military
government spokesman told Reuters.

He said the 12-megawatt lignite-powered plant was designed to
"minimize environmental pollution" and would not increase drug
manufacturing in the area.

"A power plant is not necessary for methamphetamine
production," he said adding the drugs could be produced in a
small, remote factory.