CHECK YOUR BURMESE WALL HANGINGS

They May Be Worth Millions In Illegal Drugs

Drug dealers smuggling heroin and speed pills from Myanmar were recently
arrested with a haul of seven kilograms of drugs. The raw value was 2.8
million baht but sources said that this would bring 28 million baht on the
street.

Maj. Gen. Pairat Thongjaktu, commissioner of Pha Muang Task Force, said
that in the early morning of July 25, patrolling soldiers near the second
bridge at Baan Tha Kalam saw two men carrying a large sack. On requesting a
search, the two ran back to the Burmese side, abandoning their bundle.

Officers opened it and found 10 Burmese style wall hangings sewn with
elephant pictures in relief, with 14 plastic bags of heroin used as the
stuffing in each hanging, coming to 7,000 grams of heroin.

Prior to this arrest, soldiers had found 21,000 ya ba pills and 20 Ecstasy
pills being transported the same way by two Burmese men on July 21 and, on
the next day, two others were apprehended on motorbikes crossing the border
with 10,200 WY speed pills hidden in wall hangings. Three more dealers were
discovered on Burmese side of the border after interrogation of those arrested.

Pithaya Jinawat, director of ONCB Northern region said heroin smuggling in
2003 and 2004 was increasing but ya ba had been decreasing while Ice,
Cocaine and Ecstasy were increasing as the demand from Thai youth increased.

Pol. Col. Jaran Roengtham, superintendent of Mae Sai Police Station
disclosed that ya ba was often concealed with cocoa or chocolate to mask
the smell to counter the sniffer dogs. Most heroin found would be exported
to Taiwan where the value was higher, he said.