U.S. wants help to combat drug trade

U.S. wants help to combat drug trade

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): A top U.S. narcotics official yesterday sought greater cooperation in intelligence-sharing from Southeast Asian nations to combat the burgeoning drug trade.

"The U.S. experience in dealing with drug traffickers from Latin America showed that information exchange was helpful in checking drug trafficking," Lee Brown, chief adviser on narcotics matters to President Bill Clinton said.

Brown, who is also known as the "Drug Czar" in the United States for his role in formulating policy, is also to visit Thailand and is expected in Bangkok on Saturday, a U.S. official in the Thai capital said.

His four-day fact-finding mission to Bangkok and the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai comes shortly after reports linked as many as 17 Thai politicians to drug trafficking.