Thailand seeks Myanmar help

Thailand seeks Myanmar help

BANGKOK (AFP): Thailand's narcotics chiefs have officially asked for Myanmar's help to track down a suspected drug lord thought to be hiding in the jungles along the Myanmar border, officials said Wednesday.

The request was made at a high-level meeting of the neighboring countries' anti-drug agencies in Myanmar's eastern Tachilek township, officials said.

Thai Office of Narcotics Control Board deputy secretary general Sorasit Sangprasert said Myanmar agreed to help in the hunt for Surachai Ngernthongfu, wanted for questioning over a huge amphetamine racket in Thailand.

"We asked for information leading to the arrest of Surachai, or Bang Ron as he is otherwise known, and other drug traffickers whose names we cannot disclose to the public," he told AFP.

Thai police in October offered a reward of some 5,300 dollars for information on the whereabouts of the fugitive, who is believed to have fled to Myanmar after a four-hour gun and grenade battle with police in Bangkok last year.

Surachai escaped from his house after the battle with anti- narcotics police, in which one suspect died and four police were injured.