Pubdate: Sun, 23 Feb 2003
Source: Daily Telegraph (UK)
Copyright: 2003 Telegraph Group Limited
Contact:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/114
Author: Alex Spillius

THAI DRIVE AGAINST DRUG DEALERS TURNS INTO A BLOODBATH

600 Killed After Premier's Pledge, Reports Alex Spillius in Arunothai

A murky sun rose over jagged jungle mountains, heralding undoubtedly the 
worst day of Si-ying Yoo's life. But unlike nearly 600 other suspected drug 
dealers killed during the past three weeks in Thailand, he at least ended 
it alive.

Cocks crowed by the dozen as a team of eight heavily armed members of the 
Thai security forces burst into his humble wooden home in Arunothai 
village, less than a mile from the Burmese border. With the aid of a 
sniffer dog they had, within a couple of hours, found 5,700 methamphetamine 
pills known as yaa baa, or crazy medicine, with a street value of ?1 each.

Undercover officers had purchased three of the highly addictive pills from 
him a few days before using notes that they had photocopied in advance. The 
same notes were found at his house. He now faces life imprisonment.

The suspect sat bleary-eyed, stunned and handcuffed as six television crews 
swarmed around him and the drugs were laid out on a bench. Delighted top 
police and military brass breezed in for the cameras.

This was the side of a new anti-drugs campaign that the authorities wanted 
the world to see. The other, more violent, one is wrecking Thailand's 
relatively favourable human rights record and easy-going reputation.

In the three weeks since the prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, vowed to 
stamp out drugs within three months, the killing has turned into a 
bloodbath, with at least 580 alleged drug dealers dead.

Several ministers have all but condoned extra-judicial killing, with the 
interior minister, Wan Mohammed Noor, saying all dealers should be 
"eliminated". Every day newspapers and television programmes show pictures 
of supposed peddlers lying in pools of blood, all with guns and bags of 
pills in their hands.

Thai and international human rights groups and members of the opposition 
have accused the government of instituting a "shoot to kill" policy. But Mr 
Thaksin says there is nothing to be worried about. "We do follow the law. 
When we clean up a house, dust billows. Don't panic."

But Thais do worry. An opinion poll yesterday showed that while 90 per cent 
of people backed the campaign, a startling 70 per cent feared that they 
could be framed or killed in a police raid.

The police claim they have killed only 20 drug dealers in self-defence, and 
that others died at the hands of fellow gang members nervous about being 
informed on. The victims have been shot at close range in the head or 
chest. There have been no witnesses and no investigations. Pathologists say 
they are not being asked to perform autopsies.

The case of Prachai Wannachairoj is typical. As he sat outside his home in 
the north-eastern city of Udon Thani, said a neighbour, a pick-up truck 
pulled up in a hurry. Two men jumped out of the back and shot him at close 
range. His wife swears that the family has never been involved in drugs. "I 
am still afraid they are going to come and kill me," she said.

The parents of eight-year-old Jirasak Unthong were killed in front of their 
son as they returned home from a Buddhist temple. His father was shot in 
the head and his mother in the back.

The national human rights commission has given warning of creating a 
"kingdom of fear" and a culture of impunity for the police.

Among the public, methamphetamines are seen as a social scourge, 
particularly since addiction has soared among middle-class schoolchildren 
and young nightclubbers. The army predicts that a billion pills will reach 
Thailand this year from highly mobile factories controlled by armed gangs 
of ethnic rebels based just inside Burma.

The majority of those shot or arrested during the campaign have been, like 
Yoo, small-time addicts and dealers. The prime minister has admitted that 
700 police and army officers, education and health officials, village 
leaders and local administrators are caught up in trafficking. He has 
promised action, but with no tangible results so far.

One military intelligence official involved in the dawn raid at Arunothai 
concurred that a number of senior advisers and donors to the prime 
minister's party were probably linked to the illicit trade. "If Thaksin is 
so serious, why doesn't he go after them first?" he asked.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Alex