Thai DPM: Most narcotics smuggled from North

BANGKOK, January 28 (TNA) - Thai Deputy Prime Minister Police Captain Chalerm Yubumrung suggested on Saturday that anti-narcotics authorities find ways to stop drug trafficking across the border--which has mostly passed eight northern Thai provinces. Speaking during a weekly address to the public on behalf of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is now in Switzerland, Police Captain Chalerm acknowledged that drug problems have, to date, become an urgent national agenda and need to be seriously resolved, and that sound cooperation has, however, been given by the Thai military to install barbed wire along the border to help prevent or even lessen drug smuggling across the border. Realising that part of the major drug sales comes from drug prisoners, the deputy premier said that there is a need to assign a special prison to detain only drug convicts and he will seek Premier Yingluck's approval to use a special prison in Si Kiew District of Thailand's northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima Province for the purpose. Police General Adul Saengsingkaew, Secretary-General of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board insisted that his agency is working closely with relevant parties, including the United Nations and neighbouring countries, to prevent and suppress drug trafficking along the border. Meanwhile, the Corrections Department reported that up to 70,000-80,000 people in Thailand have been jailed on drug charges, making up some 60 per cent of the country’s jail population of about 250,000, a double surge over the past 10 years, excluding drug dealers remanded for rehabilitation. Corrections Department Director-General Police Colonel Suchart Wongananchai said that he agrees with Deputy Premier Chalerm's proposal on providing a separate compound for inmates on drug charges, with Klong Phai Central Prison in Si Kiew set to be a test ground due to its remote location from communities. (TNA)