Shan nabbed, 1 killed

Drugs

Shan nabbed, 1 killed

Courtesy: The Nation

One Shan officer was arrested and another captured dead in a sting operation on 5 March that netted 174 bars of heroin worth $ 700,000, report Thai papers.

Tima, a Shan from Maehongson's Pang Mapha district, who had driven himself into a trap with the incriminating goods, had attempted to shoot his way out and was killed. Toon a.k.a Thun Wiwatrung-aroon, his associate, who was in Chiangmai waiting to pick up the payment was then taken into custody, said the reports.

Toon, 36, had claimed innocence and said he had come only at the behest of a friend to collect some money on his behalf.

Authorities later found at his house in Sankamphaeng, one of Chiangmai's satellite towns, an ID card issued by the Shan resistance that tagged him as a member with the rank of captain.

Shan officers S.H.A.N. was able to reach both in Chiangmai and on the border also denied knowledge of the affair and said an official statement would be issued to clear the resultant misunderstandings.

"We have a standing anti-narcotics policy," said one of the Shan State Army's commanders on the border. "What has taken place in Maehongson is therefore a damaging blow to our reputation."