NMSP Make Second Amphetamines Arrest

May 17, 2008

By Lawi Weng:

Over 3,000 amphetamines were seized and a smuggler arrested by the New Mon State Party (NMSP) near Three Pagodas Pass on the Thai-Burma border on Friday evening, according to source from NMSP.

Saw Moe Win, 38 years old, is from the Karen ethnic minority. According to the NMSP, the amphetamines were linked with the activities of the armed ceasefire group Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).

The smuggler had hidden 18 packets of amphetamine underneath the jacket he was wearing. Each packet contained 200 pills.

He was arrested while driving his motorbike across the NMSP checkpoint near the Thai-Burma border.

The pills were MDMA, type WY+R, and according to the smuggler they originated in Pegu division.

This arrest was not an isolated incident in the area; in February the NMSP arrested a smuggler for attempting to traffic over 8,000 pills.

The TPP border Township is under the administrative control of the Burmese military government. Ethnic cease-fire groups including the NMSP, Karen Peace of Front (KPF), Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) are also based in TPP and have some control over the area.

The majority of residents in TPP are ethnic people including Mon, Karen and Shan. Most of the families depend on logging and furniture trade for their survival.

The NMSP, in a bid to stop narcotics smuggling in their area of control set up the anti-drug department in 2002. Thai border military authorities have encouraged the NMSP to take action against narcotics smuggling in keeping with the Thai government’s policy of ‘War on Drugs’.

After the NMSP started taking action against narcotics smuggling, the TPP border, especially in the NMSP controlled areas there has been less drug smuggling and fewer arrests in the Thai military border check point.

In the past, at least 10 smugglers were arrested yearly at the Thai military border check point and it was easier to access drugs on the TPP border.