No.15 - 04/2006
25 April 2006

War/Drugs

Wa commander buys in

As Thailand's drug enforcement chief Krisna Pol-anand prepares his trip to witness Burma's latest drug bonfire in Kengtung tomorrow, a Wa commander has dispatched 250-fresh troops to the scene of the battle that took place Friday, 21 April, just 1 km north of the Chiangrai border, according to Thai and Shan sources.

Wa troops of the 814th and 101st battalions, both from drug fugitive Wei Hsuehkang's 171st Military Region that covers areas stretching from Tachilek to Homong, opposite Chiangrai, Chiangmai and Maehongson provinces, have arrived in Maejok, where a three-hour shootout took place between a Burma Army column and a Shan patrol.

Observers and participants are divided over the actual cause of the event that has so far taken away at least 4 lives:

• One side believes that the Burma Army column, made up of troops from Light Infantry Battalions 311 and 526 as well as members of the Punako militia, was attempting to transfer 200 kg of heroin coming from the Ah Mae refinery under the protection of Punako.

The turn-up of the Wa troops on the scene followed a meeting in Maejok on Saturday between Jalaw Bo, one of Wei's deputy commanders, and Burmese officers there, according to Thai and Shan reports.

Punako militia chief Ja-ngoi, 45, has long been known as one of the major producers of heroin and yaba (methamphetamine) right under the eyes of two Burma Army battalions nearby, 553rd and 554th in Mongtoom. (For more information on the two units, see Show Business second edition, P.50)

In addition, Jalaw Bo and Ja-ngoi are reputed as business partners.

• Others however believe that the information received by the Shan State Army and drug busters in Thailand could have been a calculated disinformation to catch the SSA red-handed with the incriminating evidence. "It could have been a real coup for the Burma Army at the Kengtung bonfire," says a Thai security source. Another pointed out that with Maejok becoming infamous, especially after the attack by the SSA on 8 February 2002 that netted 50,000 yaba pills on the premises, it would be foolhardy for anyone to attempt to smuggle drugs across the border there.