Speed smuggled into Thailand

Speed smuggled into Thailand -- by cows

Drugs

Even cows have become accidental drug runners, according to cattle traders coming to Maehongson, the kingdom's northwestern province.

"The yaba (methamphetamine) in plastic bags are forced down the cows' throats into their insides before crossing the border," one of the cattle drovers coming through Boundary Post #14, Mae Sae township, Kayah (Karenni State)), opposite Maehongson's Khun Yuam district, recently told border-based Karenni Information Network Group (KING). "They are slaughtered following their safe passage through Thai checkpoints and the bags are retrieved to be sold to the dealers in Thailand."

The cross-border trade in cattle whose beef, a huge demand in Thailand, has become a most convenient cover for drug running, says KING editor.

He quoted disclosures by two recent deserters from Karenni People Nationalities Liberation Front, a group that enjoys a truce pact with Rangoon, that it was also involved in drug trafficking. "The pills, mostly 99 and WY brands, are being bought at 350 kyat (17.5 baht) and sold at 400-450 kyat (20-22.50 baht)", KING quoted Saw Say Htoo and Maung Maung as saying.

The two also reported areas in western Kayah and adjoining southern Shan State under Faikhun-based Military Operations Command #7 as poppy growing areas. "Tax is paid to the Army through its intelligence officers," they claimed.

Seizures of drugs in Thailand have increased since last year when its all-out War on Drugs was at its height, according to Thai news reports.