Death of drug mules in Thailand highlights bigger problem

BANGKOK 

Thai police have shot dead seven drug smugglers while seizing several hundred thousand methamphetamine pills in the Golden Triangle area of northwestern Thailand - the latest in a long series of anti-trafficking operations in the region by securities forces.

Thai media reported Saturday that a unit of the border patrol police opened fire on a group of hilltribers as they crossed the Myanmar-Thai border in a mountainous area north of Chiang Rai when they refused to stop.

The shoot out lasted several hours, after which the bodies of the traffickers were recovered along with six bags, each containing around 100,000 methamphetamine tablets.

Such incidents between border patrol police and drug traffickers in the Golden Triangle area, which borders Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, are common as the mountainous region is crisscrossed with paths hidden by the forest, home to a number of ethnic minority guerrilla forces.

Until recently, several of these guerrilla groups - such as the United Wa State Army and Shan State Army - trafficked in Class A drugs to fund insurgency against the central Myanmar State. Although a ceasefire has been in place since 2011, trafficking has continued.

Drug seizures on Thai territory of such large amounts of methamphetamine tablets are a monthly occurrence. In early February, Thai police seized 3.8 million pills worth an approximate US$32 million in a raid on an apartment on the outskirts of Bangkok - the largest seizure in Thailand in several years.

According to a March report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) “in terms of amount manufactured, Myanmar was the main source of methamphetamine and crystal methamphetamine [in Asia]."

It added that the situation had not changed in 2012.

Unlike the production of heroin, which needs sophisticated equipment, methamphetamine laboratories are quite basic, require simple ingredients and are easy to hide. They are particularly numerous in Myanmar's Shan State, which is opposite the Thai provinces of Mae Hong Son and Chiang Rai. It is estimated that one billion methamphetamine tablets are produced in Shan State each year.

Although illegal in Thailand, methamphetamines are extremely popular, particularly among construction workers and truck drivers needing to work long shifts. They are called “Ya  Ba,” meaning “the drug which makes you crazy.” 

According to NGO estimates, Thailand currently has around 600,000 methamphetamine users, a drop on the 2003 figure when “Ya Ba” could be found everywhere from provincial primary schools to Bangkok discotheques.

In February-March of 2003, a clampdown dubbed the “war on drugs” brought trafficking to an almost standstill when 2,500 people were killed by underground police squads, often on the simple suspicion of being traffickers. Human rights organizations protested, accusing then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra of a shoot to kill policy. Shinawatra was overthrown three years later in a coup.

When it presented its report last march, UNODC expressed fear that the suppression of trade barriers between members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations planned for December 31, 2015 will facilitate drug trafficking between the ten member countries.

"The UN is concerned that sufficient thought has not been given to the implications of greater regional integration - and how it makes the connecting of chemicals, drugs and markets easier and more efficient than ever before,” said Jeremy Douglas, the UNODC regional representative.

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