Thai narcotic suppression officials to work in Laos

BANGKOK, June 28 (TNA) - Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) will deploy its official in neighbouring Laos to tackle illicit drugs in the Golden Triangle, a joint border area of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar. ONCB Deputy Secretary-General Sukhum Opasnipat said Thursday that the Golden Triangle remains a major source of illicit drugs, as narcotic deliveries by traffickers through Laos, instead of northern Thailand, have been expanding. Sukhum said that the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs has approved a new position of a Thai narcotic control attaché in Laos and the ONCB will, therefore, deploy its official to fill the post shortly to do intelligence and coordinate narcotic suppression in the neighbouring country, after having, similarly, sent its officials to work as narcotic control attaches in Beijing and Yangon and plans to send more to other neighbouring countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Meanwhile, the ONCB is searching for depots of narcotics in border areas in the Thai North and is verifying if considerable orders for a strain of orchids has anything to do with narcotic production. Wichai Chaimongkol, Director of ONCB's regional branch 5, explained that the orchid, called Kluay Mai Dam, is a kind of orchids in the same family of rattan and contained steroid which could stop pain and inflammation, noting that the ONCB has not detected any narcotic precursor from the orchid and is asking Chinese authorities to verify the conclusion. Wichai revealed that the ONCB has also ordered officials of all units concerned to seriously block drug smuggling, particularly through Thailand's northern Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son provinces, where traffickers remain active. (TNA)