ASIANS DOUBT THAT U.S. CAN HALT HEROIN FLOW

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73B00296R000300070012-9
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 16, 2001
• Sequence Number: 12
• Publication Date: August 11, 1971
• Content Type: NSPR

,~~ Cod ~ ,~pproved For Release 2002/01/02 : ECA~~
~i ~.E N:~:W yc~RK T;Ii~iES
t (
-, . (, a
slans~ out
alt Heroin Flow
~an~ __
Ry gE1VRY K
Tlmes
.; ~, ~? ggecdelto'1'fie New YOak
fOUr1d'^aS a pro~~5S. .
NGKOK, Thailand, Aug. 1.0 one can be ears"
~'~' obstacles con- that will take yree with Amer-
-
'
le 'Phe Asians ag
~dab
.-Form
front the United States in its can officials that with in-
efforts to halt the Plow of
sin Vietnam creased United States asst rester
heroin to its troop they can intercept a g
and to prevent Southeast Asian share of the traffic in opium
derivatives from the
moving into the
it
'
s
a ld
from
heroin
c~~ntiguous growing areas in the
Attierfcan market to fill the gaP~ northeastern'
be left if the trafficlmountains of
that may ' northern Thailand and
from the Middle. East is con-Burma But they
tamed: Inbrtttwestern Laos. 1 and de?
believe that both supp Y rof-~
~i~rloan officials, president
the high pflority .nand are so great and th aP the
f~'ixo$ ati,aches to the program, its so temptingly lrigh ,
efulness supp and the demand will re-
display determined hop ly less in balance
imain more or .
that the flow can be significant-i until one or the other' Can be
"ly reduced, at least while south controlled.
icon" troops .:remain in
~: a month of inquiry in
Vietnam. Thailand and Laas it was possi-
ASlat1 officials, on the other- ble to get a reasonably full pic-
hand, -are openly doubtful of of the
ture of haw the aver somnif-~,
jthe chances of even limited seeded ~ of Pap
'success aver a shore ncernTthatlierum, the opium poPPY~ rnaves,
express growing
a problem that they had c:onsid- from the mountain tribesmen.
erod primarily American may~,who cultivate and harvest t and
also be on the rise among theiriconverted into heroin
oven ;people. They see the' ~#, Column,3
~tir~ st9tatirrct-~~ ~?~~Ca~Hnu~
ae~rc~ _ ___...
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 Approved For Release 2002/01/02 :CIA-RDP73B00296R000300070012-9
supply flights; but no evidence the Laotian m ry to get the
was offered. Vietnamese mill- army out of the opium trade.
tart' flights from Cambodia are The American officials in
also suspect.. >;aos are pressing strongly
While the American officials for a law to forbid opium pro-
are reluctant to provide details, duction and trafficking that
they affirm that increasing was proposed to the National
amounts of heroin seized in the Assembly by the Premier,
United States are traceable to Prince Souvanna Phouma, at
Southeast Asia. Hone Kons was American ursine. The Assem-
and the United States.
1Vlost of the chemists work-
ing for-high wages at refineries
in Burma, Laos and perhaps
Thailand are thought to have
received their training in Hong
Kong or Macao.
also cited a et} a5 a source bly has been ,slow in taking .
of heroin-reined there from action.
opium or moi'uhine base vro- One of its members, recent-"
Thailand.
Under heavy American prs-
sure Thailand and Laos have
begun considering programs to
cut the flow of opium, although
officials of both countries em-
phasize that they consider their
efforts more as assistance to
their stromg ally than actions
in their national interest.
Because of the strong Ameri-
can hold in Laos; the compara-
tive scarcity of transport and
the country's landlocked char-
acter, the United States is giv-
ez~ a better chance there than
fn Thailand of restricting the
flow.
Military's Role Said to End
or derivatives for the world.
market. Their importance is be-
lieved to be largely as transit
and processing areas for Bur-
miese opium.
Current estimates are that
about a thousand tons oP raw
oppium a year are produced in
'the border region. Only about
30 tons ongmate in Laos,
where most of the poppygrow-'
ing regions have .fallen to the
Communists, and 200 tons in
Transit and Processing Centers
Most experts agree that
neither Laos nor Thailand pro-
vides much hpme-grown opium
tD; the Minister,. the command-
ea'' in chief said:
rIt's been going on for a
service of General Ouane
removed the military from
~gium traffic. Mr. Sisouk
he had confronted the
The Actizlg Defense Minister
o!~ Laos, Sisouk na Champas-
to g time. Why stop now? If
Ap p rov~..~.R~1~4.~~'~.~~/~~(
1 appointed Ambassador to a
European country, had to be ~,
recalled for "consultation" be-
fore he presented his creden-
tials. On his arrival at his post ;
his baggage was found to con-
tain 60 kilogramQ of white
heroin. ;,:;
U.S. Pressurb >Kesented
Many Laotian officials are
growing resentful at American
pressure because, they allege,`
the United States has long.
known of the implication of the.
Laotian armed forces but, for
its own reasons, has tolerated
the practice.
"When military goals were
most important to the Ameri-
cans, they were ready to over=
look anything," said Maj. Gen.
Kouprasith Abbay, newly a~-
pointed deputy commander m
chief.. "Now, domestic political
interests are dominant, and
suddenly the Americans want
us to act "
Thailand, in the view of high
officials in Washington, has
been slow in taking effective
action. In an interview, Maj.
Gen. Nitya Bhanumas, head of
the Central Bureau of Narcotics
of the police, stressed that to
comply fully with American re-
quests for greatly increased law
enforcement, the United States..
would have to supply greater
support to his forces.
Asked about enforcement re-
isuits so far, he showed photo-
?graphs of opium seizures sev-
' oral years back and of the exe-
cutions of four Chinese traf- .._
fickers, also some years old.
One of the more original
.plans pursued by Thailand led
a ranking police official recent-
ly to confer in Burma with
leaders of the Chinese force
there to inquire how much they
would charge to refrain from
the opium trade. The official, in
an interview, said the talks
were still going on and ex-
pressed the hope that the Unit-
ed States would put up the
money.
Nothing but Maney on Him.
~eThe satm~e Thai of~ficia~l said
`fti~n~n~d'a'Go~ut~b'o"f'~s" men00300070012-
in the border town of Maesai
and found nothing on him ex-
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~~ ~ a~~~ ._ ~ ,
~;or ohcs ~ea~ers
~' ~~or Ueafh
pug. '~ ~ ~ (A~) ~'"resident
Nguyen Van Tliieu proposed
today a bill that would make
dealing in narcotics awar-
ime crime and would. decree
belonging to
;fie ~ t~ ~ S pres-
9cs roem. Yt a eared to
he d~~ '~~~ n4 o y y ~~a~~ainst
;'the slip~y to .T s but a~Iso
agafnst ;~rovsnn~ use by 'Viet-
. aar,~~se.~,.. ,.x, .
a~~n a~nnd ~, blot ? ~s-
p B~eS' p~6 _. s~1 r. ieu
~sa~d tit st~~se~ r~~lailita-.
f tiop ~ ddiet~s~vvho are, can-
1> .d~ e victams of"~e~.Tgrs
~+~ , CS.
. as appal'en}1Y the`
. -
ey._`He tcx~k the becaslnn," ha
clate8, td ask the general to
isp~se,='~~ sai~T, general Tuan
pointed to the mountains on
the i3urmese side and said there
was a great deal of opium there,
unfortun~t_ely not his own.
' "'the elinerican "officials in
Bangkok said they were pre-
paring for submission to Wash-
ington along-range program of
economic aid to Thailand to
help her rese#tle the Chinese
in useful agricultural work aS
well as to provide aad to opium-
growing hill tribes Un_:subst-
tute craps.
lisar -the short. term, the of-
#utials said, they ~'e confident
Shat more seizures and arrests
will be made by Thailand to
-help redace the flow of narcot-
ics to .American soldiers in
Vietnam....
Impartial observers believe
that in tbs cornptively short
time that a l~gg American ;
force. will remsir~ .~n V%etnam
it is unlikely that_the flow of
.narcotics can $e significantly
reduced. t~nce the troops have
lefty they feel, pressure for
long-term ,:programs wall be
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