30%
2 Draft
CONFIDENTIAL
Draft actinowledgment.
EJ Sharland Esq
BANGKOK
Mr. Mac Presson
Mr. Goldsmith
Dear John,
CHIANG MAI
SULAT
14 March, 1975
the Low him a happy.
Live
ECEIVED IN REGISTRY NOS 14
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THE ECONOMICS AND POLITICS OF HEROIN IN THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE
Commissio
of Narcotics
1. While on a recent visit to Chisng Saen, a sensitive district Hong Kong in Chiang Rai province which adjoins Burma and Laos, the officer in charge of the Border Patrol Folice (BFP) detachment there described the security situation. One thousand Burma Communist Party troops are now moving down from the hills to points on the Thai border, he said. On the Lao side he claimed that there were three separate places just across the Mokhong River where companies of "red" troops were stationed. Was he worried by these apparent throats, we asked? No, he replied, and there was certainly no sign of concern among the sleepy men of the BPF platoon of eighteen men who had just coms in from a night
patrol.
2. The fact is that junior BPF officers are usually quite well informed about what is going on, although they often exaggerate when talking to foreigners. They cross the borders informally to meet their opposite numbers on the other side. Friendly relati no exist at a low level between the BPP and Iso and Furmese officials. However, the BFF also have contacts with the Pethot Lao, General Vang Fao's ex-CIA guerrilles, the ", "the Shane (all branches), the KKY, the Kachins and indecd any group that finde itself across, astride or within the Thai border areas. The BFP know full well that the primary
CONFIDENTIAL
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