CONFIDENTIAL
primary interest of everybody in the border area is illegal trading in various commodities. Since the BFF are out-gunneã and out-manned by these other groups at almost every point, the BFF see no advantage in interfering with the trade and
commerce of the area.
3. A policy of live and let live dominates the border area and the result is masterly inactivity with regard to smuggling. This commerce has reached such proportions that economic explanations for the moves of armed rebel bands in the Golden Triangle area of Northern Thailand and adjoining areas of Laos and Burma are often more valid than political ones. In upland Thailand, the single most valuable product is opium. Much of what happens is geared to converting opium to money. The crop grows well anyway but the hilltribe growers have recently discovered that it grows much better if fertiliser is added to the scil. Marketing presents no problem to the farmer because buyers come to the villages and sometimes make payment in advance to secure a future crop.
4. Anything, except a more lucrative crop (if one could be found), that interferes with the production of opium and its subsequent sale would be resisted by the hill tribes. The hill- tribes, who live in villagos well outside the writ of any established government, naturally possess arms. They know how to use them. They need the arms not only to resist a potential threat from government forces but, more importantly, to protect themselves from the armed bands who buy and transport the
on the
ONGIDENTIAL