Ok so here we have it from the horse's mouth. Now the thing is that if I had just a few contacts I could take a whole lot of Akha villages out of this game. One of the things that I am doing here to do that is the establishment of a full on village route. Now have 250 villages in the circuit with 30 to 50 more to go. For this I am working on raising funds for special built hummer that will cost around $20,000 US, just a little more than a 4 wheel drive toyota. So I am looking for any contact from the west who wants to put their money where their mouth is in getting the Akha out of the drug equation. One last thing, if this is the case, the the burma blockade is the best thing the burmese and the cartel could hope for because with the blockade there are gobs of hilltribe poor enough to keep growing opium. Matthew Cartel security seen to be Burma's goal Fighting meant to help Wa traffickers Thai and foreign security officials are now convinced the primary goal of the fighting in northern Burma is to protect and allow the expansion of Asia's first effective drug cartel. The Burmese army and their United Wa State Army allies are clearly prepared to exchange a brief drop in cross-border trafficking during the fighting for the expectation of greater freedom to make and move bigger drug shipments. "They will cut back smuggling for the moment, by necessity," said a diplomatic source yesterday. The fighting has heightened security by the Thai military and police, and closed off some regular trafficking routes from Burma into Thailand. "They are betting that when this is all over, they will have better control in Burma, and get back to the business of making and marketing heroin and speed pills, only more than ever." In recent weeks, India has joined Thailand and China in protesting the huge cross-border trafficking of drugs. Not only have these three countries become major transit points, drug use, abuse and addiction has also risen rapidly to epidemic proportions in their border regions and cities. "Synthetic drugs are coming into India in a major way through Burma," said R. Sundaralingam, a drugs consultant to the Interpol Secretariat. C. Chakrabarty, an Indian member of the UN International Narcotics Control Board, said India has turned from transit point to heroin consumer. Experts who met on the sidelines of last week's regional meeting of Interpol in Bangkok said that initial reports indicated the Burmese offensive against the Shan State Army was critically timed. "The opium crop was picked and in their (Wa) hands, just before the border fighting started," said a Western source. In addition, they had sent a huge flood of methamphetamine and similar pills to China, India and Thailand, so that a short break in trafficking will hardly be noticed by drug pushers and abusers. When the fighting ends, Burma expects the Shan to be defeated or at least in disarray in provinces of the northeast. The Wa army-which is to say the drug cartel-will be far more secure, in control of a much greater geographical area. The military campaign increases the pressure on the new Thaksin Shinawatra government. Thailand seeks to stop drug trafficking from Burma, which is the country's top security threat. Burma has tolerated-some believe encouraged-the massive drug smuggling by the Wa in order to gain the group's political support. It does not seem possible to reconcile the policies. Thailand is diplomatically hobbled, because it must not openly encourage the SSA-even though it is the only group which can harass the drug trade inside Burma itself. Before the latest fighting, Burma was already in the process of forcing Shan natives out of the northeast, so ethnic Wa could move into the opium-growing area. The Shan are being forcibly relocated further south. The combination of amphetamine factories and effective control of most poppy-growing highlands means the USWA is by far the biggest, and most diverse drug cartel in Asia's history. -- http://www.akha.com http://www.akha.org Donations by check or money order may be sent to: The Akha Heritage Foundation PO BOX 6073 Salem OR 97304 USA By Visa Card Secure Site: https://www.givetocharity.com/cgi-bin/give.pl?CODE=10956 To subscribe send mesage to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Please let us stay on topic and be civil. To unsubscribe please go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cia-drugs -Home Page- www.cia-drugs.org OM Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
