Thailand worried about Wa move

Thailand worried about Wa move

BANGKOK (AP): The Thai government has expressed concern to
Myanmar that the planned relocation of tens of thousands of
ethnic minority villagers in opium-growing areas in northeastern
Myanmar will increase drug problems in Thailand, the Thai state
news agency reported on Thursday.

Jurin Laksanavisit, Thai prime minister's office minister, met
on Wednesday with Hla Maung, Myanmar ambassador to Bangkok, and
voiced worries that ethnic Wa villagers are being moved to areas
close to the border with northern Thailand, already awash with
illicit drugs, such as heroin and methamphetamine.

In January, Myanmar's military regime launched an
unprecedented relocation of 50,000 people out of prime opium
growing areas near China controlled by the United Wa State Army,
described by the U.S. State Department as the world's largest
drug-trafficking organization, to more fertile areas further
south near Thailand to farm fruit instead.

Jurin asked for more cooperation from Myanmar in suppression
of drug trafficking, particularly by the Wa along Thai-Myanmar
border, which lies at the heart of Southeast Asia's Golden
Triangle. The region is a huge source of heroin, which is derived
from opium, and synthetic drugs.