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.