16 Thai Companies' Assests Frozen In Usa

[sriracha john]

US freezes assets of 16 Thai firms linked to drug trade in Myanmar

Thu Nov 3

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States froze the assets of 11 people and 16 companies based in Thailand for alleged links with a Myanmar heroin-producing and trafficking group operating in Southeast Asia's notorious Golden Triangle.

They are "part of the financial and commercial network of designated significant foreign narcotics trafficker Wei Hsueh-kang and the United Wa State Army (UWSA)," the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

Wei is a senior commander of the 20,000-strong UWSA, which styles itself as an independence movement fighting for an ethnic Wa state in military-ruled Myanmar.

He and seven others were charged in absentia earlier this year in a US court with the cultivation of opium in Eastern Myanmar as well as the manufacture and distribution of heroin and methamphetamine to the United States and around the world.

Wei, who has a two-million-dollar bounty on his head, and his associates were also accused of laundering narcotics proceeds through seemingly legitimate businesses.

The US Treasury's office of foreign assets control (OFAC) has added the 11 individuals and 16 companies to its "specially designated nationals and blocked persons list pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act," the statement said.

"Wei and the UWSA's opium trafficking plagues the society and economy of Southeast Asia," said Robert Werner, OFAC Director.

"We're acting to protect the US financial sector from this network's tainted drug profits, as well as ensure Wei and his cohorts can't use the American financial system to move or launder their opium proceeds."

The UWSA controls large segments of Eastern Myanmar in the heart of the infamous Golden Triangle of heroin production straddling Myanmar, Laos and Thailand.

Among the key individuals blacklisted Thursday are Warin Chaichamrunphan, one of Wei's wives, and her brother Winai Phitchaiyot.

"They act for or on behalf of Wei and the UWSA in various front companies, as well as materially assist in their narcotics trafficking activities," the statement said.

Several relatives of Warin and Winai are also in the blacklist.

The 16 companies named, all of which are located in Thailand, were designated for their alleged role in the financial network of Warin, Winai, Wei and the UWSA, according to the US Treasury.

It added that many of the designated companies had been raided in the past by Thai authorities in connection with an investigation into Wei's money-laundering network.

"Today's action freezes any assets found in the United States and prohibits all financial and commercial transactions between the designated persons and entities and any US person," the statement said.

Myanmar is the worlds second largest producer of illicit opium and is among the worlds largest producers and traffickers of amphetamine-type stimulants.

The country's military rulers have "failed demonstrably to make sufficient efforts" to meet obligations under international counternarcotics agreements, according to the US State Department.

[astral]

Part of a new hub?

Heroin this time.

Edited November 4, 2005 by astral