Drugs

As Thailand desperately tries to salvage normal relations with Rangoon, following the capture of half a million speed pills together with 9 dead Wa fighters on 20 August, drug bosses at the newly established southern Wa capital of Mongjawd are preparing to exert control on the coming season's opium output between Mongton and the Karenni State, roughly opposite Maehongson and Chiangmai provinces, according to both civilian and Thai official sources.

Cornfields are being harvested by both the local and imported farmers, and the soil, having been enriched by the maize corn, is being prepared for the sowing of poppy seeds, they said. Planting is expected to begin by the end of this month. "Some have already sowed," said a Lahu trader, "but the sudden downpour ruined their fields."

Last year's output in the area of some 30 villages was estimated as 9-18 tons. The upcoming season's yield is expected to exceed last year's. Ten new Kokang bosses have arrived in Nakawngmu and have teamed up with Wei Hsuehkang, who has transferred his 171st Military Region headquarters from Hwe Aw to Mongjawd, according to the Border Patrol Police. "With them came hundreds of hired farm laborers," added a local Shan.

Prices have also climbed up. Opium, 6,000 - 8,000 per viss (1 viss = 1.6 kg) during the New Year, is 11,000 baht last week, while heroin has risen to more than 200,000 baht per kilogram.

Rangoon has promised to make Burma drug-free by 2014. But critics have accused its anti-drug activities in northern Shan State as "cosmetics"that do little or nothing about drug production elsewhere in the country.