Breaking news: SSA burns 1.1 million speed pills

No.02 - 6/2007
6 June 2007
Drugs
  
The Shan State Army (SSA) South held its third drug bonfire at Loi Kawwan base, opposite Chiangrai at 11:00 this morning.

The ceremony was presided over by Col Yawdserk, the SSA boss, and witnessed by a number of foreign media including The Nation, Bangkok Post and TiTV. The SSA is ready to cooperate with Burma’s military junta in the field of drug suppression, he said, as he put the torch to 1.1 million methamphetamine pills, priced at Baht 28.5 million( $ 1 million) on the Thai-Burma border.

The pills were reportedly seized from the pro-junta militia led by Ja Seu-bo.

http://www.shanland.org/drugs/2007/breaking-news-ssa-burns-1-1-million-speed-pills

Drugs go up in smoke

June 7, 2007

The Shan State Army (SSA), one of the few remaining ethnic armies fighting the military junta of Burma, yesterday held a massive drug bonfire at a military base in Loi Kawwan as part of its campaign to win support from abroad.
In front of about 500 observers from Burma's Shan State and Thailand, SSA leader Colonel Yawd Serk set more than one million methamphetamine tablets, or "ya ba" pills, on fire.
 
Foreign journalists also observed proceedings at Loi Kawwan base, which is opposite Chiang Rai's Mae Fah Luang district.
 
The drugs were seized by a 30-strong unit of SSA soldiers who intercepted a shipment coming down the Mekong on Feb 6. A one-hour shoot-out between the traffickers and the SSA unit ended in the death of two soldiers and the sinking of three boats.
 
The incident took place just north of the "Golden Triangle".
 
The drugs appeared to have originated from Burma's so-called Special Region 2, an area along the Sino-Burmese border controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), dubbed the world's largest drug trafficking army by the US State Department. The pro-Rangoon UWSA and the SSA, accused by the Burmese junta of being a Thai proxy, are historical enemies and continue to engage in sporadic clashes.
 
Yawd Serk said the SSA was ready to enter cease-fire talks with the Burmese junta and even cooperate with them on drug suppression.
 
Wiwatchai Sukhum, The Nation, LOI KAWWAN, BURMA

http://www.nationmu ltimedia. com/2007/ 06/07/pda/ national_ 30036218. html

SSA burns 1m speed pills to show sincerity in drug fight

SUBIN KHEUNKAEW

The Shan State Army (SSA) yesterday burned over one million speed pills along the border with Chiang Rai in a demonstration of its intention to help Thailand and the international community fight illicit drugs. SSA leader Col Yod Serk said Shan independence fighters had seized the narcotics from a drug trafficking gang after a clash in the middle of the Mekong river on Feb 6 this year.

Drug traffickers were transporting the speed pills in four boats when SSA troops clashed with the gang. Three of the four boats were shot at and they sank in the river, he said.

The drug traffickers managed to flee, leaving only one boat with 1.1 million speed pills in it, said Col Yod Serk.

He said the drugs were probably destined for Laos and border areas in Burma before being smuggled into Thailand.

Col Yod Serk vowed to help the world stamp out the illegal drugs trade as SSA troops burned the pills in front of representatives from Thai authorities and the media at their base across the border from Chiang Rai province.

Thai troops have been placed on full alert along the Thai-Burmese border in the North to prevent the smuggling of illicit drugs into the country, said Maj-Gen Wannathip Wongwai, commander of Pha Muang task force.

Kamol Thayapirom, deputy director of the Northern Narcotics Control Centre, said a huge amount of heroin and speed pills had been kept at various spots along the border opposite Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces before being smuggled into Thailand.

He cited intelligence reports that over 10 million speed pills were ready to enter the country.Meanwhile, an alleged member of a drug gang was shot dead and some 10,000 speed pills seized after a clash between security forces and a drugs caravan in Chiang Mai.

A combined force of anti-narcotics officers and border patrol police exchanged fire with an eight-member drug caravan at a border forest in Mae Ai district around 10 pm on Tuesday, police said. One drug gang member was shot dead. A bag containing 10,000 speed pills was found near his body while the others fled.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/07Jun2007_news18.php