#Chiang #Rai authorities seize 1.2 million #meth #pills

Chiang Rai authorities seize 1.2 million meth pills, worth Bt360 million, smuggled across Mekong River to Thailand, abandoned in Chiang Saen district cornfield.

Search continues for Lao air crash victims in Mekong Riverလာအိုေလေၾကာင္းလိုင္းမွ ေလယာဥ္တစ္စီး မဲခါင္ျမစ္ထဲသို႔ ပ်က္က်-video

 

 

UBON RATCHATHANI, Oct 17 – Thai and Lao rescuers today carried on their search for possible survivors of a Lao Airlines plane crash in the Mekong River in southern Laos Wednesday afternoon.

Rescue units from Thailand’s Ubon Ratchathani, Surin and Si Sa Ket provinces and Lao PDR officials from Champasak in southern Laos jointly searched for survivors, after five bodies were found in yesterday’s mission which was called off at nearly midnight.

The Lao Airlines ATR-72 turboprop plane flying from the capital Vientiane crashed at about 4.10 pm just eight kilometres short of its destination at Pakse airport in Champasak province, and 45 km from the Chong Mek border crossing checkpoint between Thailand and Laos.

A preliminary report said the aircraft carried 44 passengers, mostly Lao nationals, and five crew members. On board the flight were passengers of a number of nationalities including five Thais. Three PTT employees, two Thais and a Lao, were reportedly on board.

The passenger manifest from the airline listed the nationalities of 44 people including 17 Lao, five Australians, seven French, five Thais, three Korean, two Vietnamese and one person each from the United States, Canada, China, Malaysia, and Taiwan, according to a report from Reuters news agency.

The airline said in a statement it had yet to determine the cause of the crash, but senior Lao aviation official said the tail end of Typhoon Nari may have been a factor.

Thai Foreign Ministry’s Department of Information director general Sek Wannamethee said Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul has closely coordinated with his Lao counterpart Thonglun Sisoulith and offered assistance and facilitation in searching for the missing passengers and crew.

Mekong River anti-drug campaign starts April

china news 28.march 2013

China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand announced Thursday that they will conduct a two-month joint campaign against drug-related crimes on the Mekong River starting April 20.

Representatives from the four nations attended a launch event held in Beijing on Thursday.

With the upcoming joint campaign, law enforcers will aim to crack a series of major cases of trans-region drug-related crimes, break major narcotics production chains and transport networks, and hunt drug-related fugitives.

The four nations also intend to improve mutual trust and boost trans-region capabilities in fighting drug-related crimes.

Though the overall security situation on the Mekong River has improved, narcotics crimes continue to rage there partly due to the regions lagging in terms of economic and social development, according to the representatives.

Strengthening the fight against drugs on the river is necessary for ensuring the safety of this major trading route in Southeast Asia, they said.

China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand began a new joint patrol on the Mekong River in the Golden Triangle Region

KUNMING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) — China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand on Sunday began a new joint patrol on the Mekong River in the Golden Triangle Region as trade and transportation returns to normal after an attack last year in which 13 Chinese sailors were killed on the river. The fleet of four patrol ships set sail at 7:30 a.m. from Guanlei Port, which is located in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China’s Yunnan Province. The five-day police patrol, the seventh since last December, will include a two-day inspection of the Laos-managed sections of the river, said Wang Bing, an officer in the Yunnan Provincial Border Control Corps. The two-day patrol will send police to check ships, passengers and goods for drugs, weapons and stowaways travelling on the river, according to Wang. “The joint patrols have been hailed by countries in the region for ensuring transportation safety and deterring criminals on the Mekong River,” the official said, adding, “Thanks to the patrols, navigation on the river has returned to the level before last year’s deadly attack.” The four-country joint patrol started in October 2011 to tackle safety concerns raised after a gang hijacked two cargo ships and killed 13 Chinese sailors on board in the waters of Thailand on Oct. 5, 2011. Statistics showed only 10 Chinese ships were navigating the river when the first such patrol was launched. That number had increased to 59 when the fifth patrol was conducted in August.