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Thai Authorities Aim to Nab 30,000 Drug Dealers

Posted on: Monday, 20 March 2006, 09:01 CST

Thai authorities aim to nab 30,000 drug dealers

BANGKOK, March 20 (Xinhua) -- The National Center to Fight Against Illicit Drugs of Thailand aims to arrest the last 30,000 wanted small-time and big-time drug dealers by the end of the fifth phase of the drug war, which will begin later this month till August.

Since the government first declared its drug war in Feburary 2003, 400 big-time drug dealers and more than 20,000 small-time traffickers were still at large, Wan Muhamad Nor Matha, director of the center, was quoted by Bangkok Post as saying Monday.

So far, some 97,000 drug dealers had already been nabbed and taken to court with illegally-obtained assets worth some 6.7 billion baht (167.5 million U.S. dollars) seized.

The government was determined to eliminate the drugs trade and the crackdown on drugs, which must be carried out in earnest and transparently, said Wan Nor, who is expected to brief authorities from the central, eastern and western provinces about the new suppression campaign Monday.

He called on authorities concerned from southern provinces of Yala, Songkhla, Pattani, Narathiwat and the coastal tourism provinces of Phangnga, Krabi, Surat Thani and Phuket to pay special attention to drug problems as information showed that the drugs situation there was the most serious.

The four provinces have become a drugs transit and storage spot. And drugs, especially club drugs, have been spread among foreign tourists in the coastal tourism provinces.

Source: Xinhua News Agency - CEIS

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