0003160 G.F. 316
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overture. For financial reasons alone there can be no question presumably of the United Kingdom entering into a bilateral agree- ment with Thailand following the pattern set by the United States. In any case a multiplicity of 'S.N.O.' type international law enforcement programmes would not likely be welcomed by the Thais and could only lead to confusion. But the presence of a British officer attached to the United States-Thai 'S.N.O.' programme at the expense of the Hong Kong Government, taken in conjunction with the posting of an officer to the Embassy in Bangkok would increase our knowledge of the illicit drug traffic comprehensively from the source of opium production along the smuggling routes to the areas of storage and exportation to Hong Kong. Improved Thai-Hong Kong-American cooperation should result which can only be beneficial and should lead to a greater degree of successful law enforcement action. It is in Hong Kong's interest to interdict drug trafficking as far forward and away from Hong Kong as possible, for once a consignment of drugs leaves Thailand for the Colony the battle is virtually lost. As with the officer proposed for the Embassy. the type of officer best suited for attachment to the 'S.N.O.' programme would probably be found in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force. It is suggested therefore that appropriate steps should be taken with a view to implementing the proposals contained in this paragraph and the previous one.
A
The Trawler Traffic
34.
As outlined in paragraphs 20 and 21, it is believed that nearly all the illicit import of opium and morphine base into Hong Kong is conveyed from Thailand by Thai fishing trawlers to pre-arranged rendezvous points perhaps as far as 100 miles off Hong Kong in international waters where the drugs are off-loaded into local fishing junks and thence smuggled into the Colony. Once a trawler has left Thai territorial waters and provided it keeps to international waters, it is virtually immune from law enforcement interference unless it is hailed by a Thai warship which is not very probable. Thus there is an extensive blindspot stretching over a thousand miles of ocean between Thailand and Hong Kong where smuggling operations can be pursued without any serious fear of detection or interruption since in peace time the vessels of one nation cannot be stopped and searched by the war- ships of another in ordinary circumstances. It cannot be anti- cipated that Thailand will be prepared to devote a major effort in terms of money, sea and air forces to apprehending and searching its trawlers heading out of the Gulf of Thailand, for once afloat drugs cease to be a problem for Thailand except in a moral sense. If some means could be found which would enable the warships of Great Britain, the United States,Cambodia and South Vietram to stop and search Thai fishing trawlers on the high seas and detain them if found to be carrying drugs, a notable breakthrough would have been achieved offering a real prospect of putting an end to the trawler smuggling traffic. This would have a direct and immediate impact on the inflow of opium and morphine base into
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