ECONOMIC - SMUGGLING, OPIUM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700210019-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 9, 2002
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: February 27, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2002/08/06 : CIA-RDP80-00809A000700210019-3
. AR 1952 51-4G
CLASS IFICATI0- 3'`?~""
25X1A
`'BCUIIIq f :
74F'~pNA
jp~
.
~
CENTRAL INTEL!. AUtNGY
INFO RM
AT:0,i FR:-,M
REPORT NO1
COUNTRY
SUBJECT
HOW
.
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS
Thailand; Burma; Nationalist China
CD NO.
DATE OF
DATE DIST.2
Feb 1953
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
Daily newspapers
Bangkok
NO. OF PAGES
2
DATE
PUBLISHED
18 - 27 Sep 1952
LANGUAGE
Chinese
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
TNIS OOCU.INT 10 '"1 INTOUVUT ION 1111111NO 1X1 1111ONIL DEANS/
O1 TNC UNITED STilt 0. IITNIN TNC r[III INO DI T111[ II, SICTI005 1.1
ADO >~. DI TNL U.S. 100` At I's 0.
LI TION 01 ITS CONTENT. TO 011 NECt1.T W AN UNAUTIDRIZCD PINION 10
Pp.l TIED DY.LIN._ TNtRr... 0UCTION O .X.1.?1..
Newspapers as indicated.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
OPIUM SMUGGLING IN THAILAND CONTINUES. KMT TROOPS BLAMED
ummary: This report on )pium smuggling in Thailand, gives
information from Chinese-language newspapers published in Bangkok,
Thailand. It notes the increasing efforts of the Thai police to
suppress opium smuggling and mentions Chinese Communist press ac-
cusations that KNIT troops in the Thai-Burmese border areas are
engaged in smuggling.
Numbers in parentheses refer to appended characters]
The editorially independent Chung-yuan Pao of 20 September 1952 claimed that
tightening of police and customs control in the Chiang Rai area during the past
year has forced opium smugglers to shift their operatiox4c from the Chiang Rai-
Lempang route to Chiang Mai. (;.'iugglers active in Chiang Mei obtain their opium
in Burma border area around Mong Hang, said the paper. The paper added that
M-)ng Hang is nearer Chiang Mai that. Ch'ing-shu (1) and Tachilek, to places in
Burma which have been the chief sources of supply for the ChienE Rai-La.?pang
route. The paper attributed thL high pr_.ces in Mong Hang tr the Chines, Nationa-
list occupation of the town. The high prices are said tr, be responsible Yor
attracting many people from Chiang Mai, who take their goods to Mon, Hang, re-
turn with opium, and reep huge profits selling the contraband in Taa.iland.
According to a report from Chiang Ms.i in the 22 September Communist Ch'uan-.
rain Pao, about 100 khaki-clad youths nationality not mentione] marched fear-
lessly through Muang Fang, on 16 September, while a machine-gtm ?,wit blocked all
main traffic routes as they passed. A police official's conjecture, said the
paper, is that these "troops," carrying new-model weapons, were probably re-
turning from a compkk.~terl opiwun-smuggling mission.
Indications that Thai authorities are taking positive steps to eradicate
smuggling were noted in an 18 September Chung_yuan Pao report of a brigadier
general being sent north by Bangkok police to survey the opium-smuggling situa-
tion. The paper predicted that on his return the officervai!d reconmen:tho' cxeatLn
i.R
25X1A
Approved For Release 2002/08/06 : CIA-RDP80-00809A000700210019-33
 Approved For Release 2002/08/06 : CIA-RDP80-00809A000700210019-3
25X1A
25X1A
of a special police unit to stur7y tot-. C:ii,._k Mai and Lampang routes as well as
the geography of the area. Inadeq,:=t:,' kz,ouieige in this respect was blamed by
the paper for poor results in the past. ..... *:he same issue of the Phung-yuan Pao
was a report from Chian Mai that large-s:.1. opium smugglers who had virtually
controlled Phrao had a.b?.ndor.ecl the city under pressure of in-
tensive police activity and military investigations and that conditions in that
city had been restored to normal. The report also mentioned police detention
of a Mae Pong ward leader in Phrso on suspicion of having connections with the
smugglers.
The Chung-yuan Pao on 19 September suggested that efforts to eliminate
smuggling would be more effective if the Thai government would provide other
employment for the opium carriers, mast of whom are educated young people.
Police discovery of 2.8 million baht worth of smuggled opium during a search
of the Mae Salit district of Ban Tak was reveale.; in the_Ch'uan-min Pao of
26 September, Of this there were 45 tins of pro-:,,;seed opium and 46 tins of raw
opium. The paper added that two Thais were s~;c'sted as suspected owners.
The Chung-yuf n Pao attempted to clear t}"-?'hinese of major responsibility
for smuggling in a feature article in its 22 ? ;.+;ember issue. The real leaders
in smuggling, accord.ng to that article, are ':,ct The Yunnanese, who merely carry
the contraband across the border, but the we a. .thy dealers in Lampang who obtain
large sums of money for the opium they ship to Bangkok. The YunLanese, the
writer explained, are mistakenly identified -?:th smuggling mainly because those
who participated in it around Chiang Mai had previously gained notoriety for
their daring in transporting opium from Burma to Thailand. Further evidence sup
porting thie theory, added the writer, is that some smugglers who have been
captured or killed were not Chinese.
A huge smuggling ring in northern Thailand is supported by the Kuo (2)
Tribe, according to a statement in the chuag-vuan Pao of 27 September attributed
to Thai authorities. The paper said that men from this tribe, equipped with
new-model weapone, were reported to have escr.red after having fired 30 shots at
special police who tried. to intercept them.
Approved For Release 2002/08/06: CIA-RDP