Thai War on Drugs 2008

In 2001 I was living in a townhouse off Soi Bongkoch with my girlfiend Mem.

See the Italian Plan.

http://www.mangozeen.com/the-italian-plan.htm

The then-PM Thaksin had initiated a War of Drugs. Death squads were hunting down dealers. Two members of this extra-legal branch of the police confronted my next door neighbor. He was a Thai jeweler. They accused him of having one million baht in the bank.

"Is that a crime?"

"Not if you give it to us. You decide. Your money or your life? You think you know people. You know no one. We are the big people now."

My young neighbor was married to a Swedish woman with a baby. His family had lived in Pattaya all his life. This was his town. He thought he was safe. After all he wasn't a drug dealer.

Two days later he was shot dead in front of his store.

No one ever investigated his death, but they did in the case of 9 year-old Nong Fluke. His mother was accused of selling jah-bah. Dead on sight was her punishment. The bullets aimed at her hit her son sleeping in the back of the car. The police involved were exonerated this week, despite having no evidence that the mother had jah bah in her possession.

Now the wonder cook PM is seeking to revive the War of Drugs.

Short and ruthless same as Thaksin campaign which killed over 2500 people, a good percentage of them innocent according the human rights groups in Thailand and around the world. The previous government blamed the deaths on drug dealers eliminating potential squealers.

"I will not set a target for how many people should die," Mr Samak told the bangkok Post. "We will pursue a suppression campaign rigorously. There will be consequences."

Drugs are everywhere in Thailand. Heroin, cocaine, speed reach every level of society. Police, army, high society, low society.

The latter is the target, since no one speaks for them.

"The drug traffickers were killing each other so that authorities would not be able to question them and track down their big bosses," Samak told reporters on Friday. "If they were innocent, why were they killed?"

His Interior Minister is very optimistic on the outcome.

"When we implement a policy that may bring 3,000 to 4,000 bodies, we will do it."

Already over 90 extra police have been stationed in Pattaya. They're going after old arrestees and young dealers of jah bah and ice.

Expect the worst.

For a related article click on this URL

http://www.mangozeen.com/elephants-on-acid.htm