Millions of 'ya ba' pills await sale
Millions of methamphetamine tablets and thousands of kilograms of other illicit drugs are hidden at locations around the country awaiting distribution by dealers, drug suppression officials said yesterday.
Pitaya Jinawat, deputy secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), said most of the methamphetamine pills - known locally as "ya ba" - were stored in the upper northern region in various places around Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Nan and Phayao.The upper northern region was still the main passage to smuggle heroin, ice (crystal methamphetamine), methamphetamine and marijuana from Burma, Laos, Cambodia and China into the country, he said. There are up to 78.932 million ya ba tablets, 1,980 kilograms of heroin, 11kg of raw opium, and 439kg of ice awaiting distribution from 38 storage locations around the country, he said. The estimated number of arrests of new drug dealers had also grown to 70 per cent of all the region's drug arrests, he said, adding that nearly half of these new suspects were aged 21 to 30 years old, while slightly less than a quarter were 31 to 40. Heroin and methamphetamine production in neighbouring countries is continuing, but the production sources had shrunk in number due to a crackdown by the Burmese government, he said. However, the amount of opium grown in southern Shan State was reportedly increasing, while ice production was also increasing, Pitaya said, adding that drug dealers in Burma, China and Laos were found to be connected. He said the US government had asked Thailand to hunt for drug lord Wei Hsueh Kang and seven members of his drug ring that were recently indicted by a jury in New York on heroin and methamphetamine-trafficking charges. Ekkapong Praditpong The Nation CHIANG MAI
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