Golden Triangle
Myanmar Thailand Laos

Han was arrested in Thailand, extradited to Myanmar and sentenced to death.

His sentence was commuted in 1980 and subsequently Law Hsin Han took up residence in Taunggyi. Kung Sa backed by his own Muang Tai Army of some 20,000 fully armed troops, carried on when Law Hsin Han was arrested. His army even had the temerity to make occasional forays into government controlled territory.

Myanmar received material and monetary aid from external sources to combat the drug problem in the Golden Triangle

and get the problems with poppie fields under control. More information on poppy is here. Including a one million dollar reward for Khun Sa’s capture put up by the United States - Khun Sa has already died some time ago in his bed in Yangon.

Myanmar successfully negotiated with fifteen armed groups to renounce insurgency; and, in 1996, the government was able to persuade Khun Sa to give-up his army of more than 14,000 men and almost 9,000 heavy and small arms. Khun Sa, once variously known in the international and Myanmar press as Prince of Death, Scourge of Mankind and Drug Kingpin, is now on good terms with the Myanmar government and is even accorded the honorific prefix U or Uncle.

Myanmar has refused to extradite him to the U.S. on grounds that there is no extradition treaty between the countries.

For hundreds of years the main commodities traded in the Golden Triangle were tea, jade and teak.

Drugs were introduced by outsiders — English colonists encouraged poppy cultivation in order to produce opium for the Chinese market, the profits of which enriched the British East India Company and the British government.

The U.S. financed the KMT to pressure the Chinese communists under Mao. After Nixon and Kissinger established stronger relations with China under Mao, the U.S. withdrew support from the KMT who then turned to raising poppies to finance their activities.

Some argue that the United States Government could have put a stop to poppy cultivation in the Golden Triangle years ago. In 1991, Khun Sa welcomed a crop substitution plan proposed by the United Nations.

Earlier, in 1989, Khun Sa had indicated to President Bush that he would cease planting poppies and in 1975 Law Hsin Han offered to sell the complete opium crop of the the Golden Triangle Shan State to the United States in exchange for another cash crop.

These suggestions and others have been arrogantly rejected by the United States who blame Myanmar for not solving the problem in the Golden Triangle, Khun Sa "the king of the Golden Triangle died in October 2007 peacefully in his house in Yangon.

The United States government does not seem to understand the demand and supply principles of the economic system they have sought to introduce all over the world ! Those who supply drugs are simply responding to the demand of drug users in the United States and Europe.

Why doesn’t the United States government focus on educating people not to use drugs instead of blaming poor Asian countries from the Golden Triangle for causing the problem? Is it because there are too many powerful groups in the United States who profit from the drug trade?

Americans living in fine homes and driving beautiful cars in “God’s own country,” are demanding that hill tribes in the Golden Triangle who can hardly afford one full meal a day, give up a key source of

income to solve an American problem. The government of Myanmar enacted a Narcotic Drug Law in 1974 and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law in 1993 to combat drug trafficking. The Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) is charged with the responsibility of enforcing the laws and of encouraging crop substitution and livestock farming.

The government also provides treatment as well as conducting information and education programs. Rehabilitation, information and education have been undertaken in the Golden Triangle . Myanmar is also actively co-operating with countries in the region as well as with UN agencies in drug control work in the Golden Triangle .

From 1990 to 1997, seized narcotics valued at over $52 million were publicly destroyed at 11 exhibitions before state, diplomatic and UN officials. During the same period 32,777 persons were jailed for drug abuse offences including 20 sentenced to death and 48 to life imprisonment.

Tachilek - the Golden Triangle Capital.

Tachilek, located in the Golden Triangle on the Myanmar-Thai border in the eastern sector of Thanlwin Shan State, is being upgraded as a gateway to the heart of the Golden Triangle. The Friendship Bridge across the small Mae Sai stream links Tachilek with the northern Thai border town of Mae Sai. The area is currently being developed for tourism and cross-border trade with Laos, Thailand and China.

One can fly direct from Yangon to Tachilek in an hour or drive 450 kilometres into the Golden Triangle, east from Taunggyi to Kentung, then 163 kilometres south to Tachilek. There is a ferry landing site at Wanpon port on the Mekong River at the Myanmar-Laos border in the Golden Triangle, 29 kilometres from Tachilek. The port also handles goods shipments to and from Thailand and China. Work is under way to develop the town as a exchange centre for trading goods.

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