Bangkok: Compared to their ultra-violent Central and Latin American cousins, the drug dealers of Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle use their low-profile to remain beyond the long arm of the law.
But they control the world’s second largest drug producing region, manufacturing and moving meth and heroin out off hidden labs in a remote, mountainous wedge of land that cuts across Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and China.
A series of recent arrests in Thailand and Laos have shone a rare spotlight on some of the key middlemen pushing product from the Golden Triangle across Asia. Here are a few of them.
The flurry of police action started with the arrest of 50-year-old Laotian Khonpasong in early January.
The was picked up on the way back from a wedding in Laos near the capital Vientiane as a dragnet closed in on drug runners and their associates.
Laos authorities swiftly seized hotels, cash and cars belonging to a man accused of getting rich on the proceeds of meth, sex venues and illegal casinos.
Since his arrest, three networks shuttling drugs from Myanmar through Laos, Thailand and onto Malaysia have been hit by raids and arrests.
Press reports in the tightly-controlled Communist country said officials rejected a $800,000 bribe to release Xiengther and his associates.
Heavily built and tattooed, Xaysana — dubbed “Mr X” by law enforcement officials — was detained on 19 January while transiting through Bangkok’s main airport on his way back home to Laos.
Thai police arrested him in front of TV cameras and stunned travelers.
Investigators in Bangkok accuse Xaysana of running a multi-million dollar drug transport network, ferrying meth, ice and ecstasy pills from the Golden Triangle through Thailand to Malaysia and beyond.
His social media posts pointed to a life of luxury and connections — photographed alongside Thai “hi-so” (high society) celebrities, at a wedding attended by the daughter of Laos’ former prime minister and next to a bevy of supercars.
Some of those Thai celebs are now being probed for allegedly laundering Xaysana’s cash.
Fond of riding thoroughbred horses at his stables on the outskirts of the Laos capital Vientiane, Sisouk has an unlikely profile for a man accused of large-scale drug running.
He is a local Laos celebrity, well-known on the party scene who conducted several television interviews on his love of horses — including one he bought from America for $25,000.
He was arrested in early April after cops linked him to Xaysana, partly through his active social media life.
Sisouk’s Facebook profile revealed a penchant for fast cars, which he sold through his garage in the Laos capital, as well as a proclivity for partying — including with Mr.X.
His garage and stables have been seized.
A Thai national born in the kingdom’s “deep south,” Usman is one of the region’s most wanted drug men.
He is accused of being a key player in the drug chain from Laos to Malaysia.
He has achieved notoriety among drug cops for his ingenuity in avoiding jail, supposedly even faking his own death.
Canny and connected, he has been linked with several major yaba pill seizures.
A 2005 raid on a Bangkok house belonging to him saw an SUV impounded. Four years later police who had been using his vehicle found 10 million baht ($290,000) stashed in rear panels in the vehicle.
Recent police operations may have shaken him from his apparent hideout in Laos, with authorities hinting he could now be in Cambodia, Malaysia or at large in Thailand.
A year ago Thai cops seized nearly 300-kilogrammes of crystal meth in the far south.
Eventually it led them to Thai-based Malaysian Tun Hung Seong, who allegedly headed a network running ice and turning huge drug profits into legitimate businesses.
He was arrested on April 19 this year at Hat Yai airport in the Thai south where he is accused of acting as a gatekeeper to the Malaysian drug market.
The drug money was laundered through a series of business, according to Thai cops, including karaoke bars, restaurants, hotels and bars which circulated up to 1 billion baht ($29 million) in narco-profits at any one time.
The Mekong middlemen running drugs across Asia
The Mekong middlemen running drugs across Asia
Malta offers to repair Gaza aid ship in drone strike row
But Prime Minister Robert Abela said the Freedom Flotilla Coalition must first allow a maritime surveyor on board to inspect the “Conscience” and determine what repairs are needed.
The pro-Palestinian activists had pointed the finger at Israel, which has blockaded the Gaza Strip throughout its military campaign against Hamas, for the attack.
If the ship can be fixed at sea, it will be, but otherwise it will be towed under Maltese control to the Mediterranean island for repairs, paid for by Malta.
“In the last few hours there was insistence that first the boat comes into Maltese waters and then the surveyor is allowed onboard,” Abela said.
“Before a vessel — any vessel — is allowed to enter Maltese waters then control must be in the hands of Maltese authorities, especially when we are talking about a vessel with no flag, no insurance.”
In an online press conference, members of the coalition who had been due to board the Conscience in Malta — including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg — said they had agreed to allow the inspection.
“When we received this offer from the Maltese government, we consulted with all of our Flotilla Coalition committee members who are on board,” said Brazilian FFC volunteer Thiago Avila.
“And their decision is that this is a good proposition from the Maltese government,” he said.
“As long as they can guarantee ... Conscience will not be stopped when it wants to leave on the humanitarian mission to take aid to Gaza.”
The activists explained the Conscience has no flag because the government of the Pacific nation of Palau had announced that they were withdrawing their registration on Friday, the day of the alleged strike.
Otherwise, they insisted they had made every effort to comply with international maritime law when embarking on the mission to take aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
According to the Flotilla Coalition, the Conscience was attacked in international waters as it headed for Malta on Friday, causing a fire that disabled the vessel and minor injuries to crew members.
Maltese and Cypriot rescuers responded. No government has confirmed the Conscience was the victim of drones, but Cyprus’s rescue agency said it had been informed by the island’s foreign ministry of an Israeli strike.
The Israeli military did not provide an immediate response when contacted by AFP.
First reported by CNN, a flight tracking service showed that an Israeli C-130 military cargo plane had been in the area immediately before the incident and had made several low altitude sweeps over the area.
Israel is known for conducting covert operations beyond its borders, including several during the Gaza war that it only acknowledged later.
The activists said the strike appeared to target the boat’s generator.
Thunberg told reporters that the incident should not distract from the focus of the boat’s mission to Gaza.
“What we are doing here is to try our very best to use all the means that we have to do our part, to keep trying to break the inhumane and illegal siege on Gaza and to open up humanitarian corridors,” she said.
Ukraine’s Zelensky: Ceasefire with Russia possible at any moment
PRAGUE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that a ceasefire with Russia in its more than three-year-old war is possible at any moment.
Zelensky, speaking at a joint news conference in Prague alongside Czech President Petr Pavel, also said that Ukraine hopes to receive 1.8 million shells in 2025 under a Czech initiative to provide military assistance.
Indonesian president inaugurates Hajj and Umrah airport terminal in Jakarta
- Indonesian Hajj pilgrims have started departing for Saudi Arabia since Friday
- Kingdom’s Makkah Route initiative will be implemented at new Hajj and Umrah terminal
JAKARTA: Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto inaugurated on Sunday a special terminal for Hajj and Umrah pilgrims at Jakarta’s international airport, where travel will also be facilitated under Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Route initiative.
Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim-majority population, sends the highest number of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims every year.
As pilgrims around the world have already begun to make their way to Saudi Arabia for Hajj this year, about 221,000 people will be coming from Indonesia.
“The government wants to give the best service for our pilgrims. We also understand that many of our pilgrims are seniors, and so we must take very good care of them,” Subianto said during the inauguration ceremony at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
“We understand that our pilgrims have saved up for a long time, and even waited for a long time, and so the government under my leadership will do our very best to give the best services and work hard to lower the cost of Hajj.”
The airport’s 2F terminal area, which has undergone renovations, has been transformed into a dedicated area for Indonesia’s Hajj and Umrah pilgrims. It was developed to serve 6.1 million travelers annually, according to a statement issued by the Cabinet Secretariat.
The launch event was attended by Saudi Ambassador to Indonesia Faisal Abdullah Amodi, as well as other Indonesian ministers, including Religious Affairs Minister Nasaruddin Umar and State-Owned Enterprises Minister Erick Thohir.
Special counters for Saudi immigration, which are part of the Kingdom’s Makkah Route initiative, have also been set up at the new terminal.
The program launched in Muslim-majority countries in 2019 allows Hajj pilgrims to fulfill all visa, customs and health requirements in one place, at the airport of origin, and save long hours of waiting before and upon reaching the Kingdom.
In Indonesia, pilgrims departing from the cities of Jakarta, Surabaya and Solo are benefiting from the Makkah Route initiative.
“As President Prabowo said, this is proof of the government’s commitment to give the best service, especially for our senior pilgrims. He is also proud of the modern and comfortable facilities that have been set up,” Umar, the religious affairs minister, said on social media.
Thousands of Indonesian pilgrims have begun to depart for Saudi Arabia, after the first Hajj flights commenced last Friday.
Though the pilgrimage itself can be performed over five or six days, many pilgrims arrive early to make the most of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fulfill their religious duty.
In 2025, the Hajj is expected to take place on June 4 and end on June 9.
Five policemen kidnapped in southwestern Pakistan
QUETTA: A separatist militant group in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday claimed an attack on a prison van in which five police officers were taken hostage.
Between 30 and 40 gunmen blocked a major highway that cuts across Balochistan province overnight on Friday, intercepting a prison van being transported by a police team, a police official said.
“The prisoners were released later but five policemen have been kidnapped,” a senior police official in the area, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told AFP on Sunday.
He said a rescue operation was underway.
The gunmen also set fire to government buildings and a bank in the area.
A senior government official, who asked not to be named, said that two gunmen were killed by security forces.
Pakistan has been battling a separatist insurgency in Balochistan for decades, where militants target state forces, foreign nationals, and non-locals in the mineral-rich southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active group in the region, claimed the assault in Kalat district.
The BLA has previously targeted energy projects receiving foreign financing — most notably from China.
In March, the group seized a train, taking hundreds of passengers hostage and killing off-duty security forces in a three-day seige.
Two dead, 31 injured in Croatia bus crash
- he health ministry, cited by state news agency Hina, said several badly hurt people had undergone operations in hospital
ZAGREB: Two people died and 31 people were injured when a Bosnian-registered coach and a car crashed into each other in Croatia on Sunday, police and medical staff said.
The accident occurred at 3:00 am (0100 GMT) on a busy freeway some 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the capital, Zagreb.
The casualties were taken to nearby hospitals, police spokeswoman Maja Filipovic told AFP, adding that an investigation had been launched to determine the causes.
The health ministry, cited by state news agency Hina, said several badly hurt people had undergone operations in hospital.
Photos published by local media showed a double-decker bus lying on its side in the middle of the freeway with its windows broken.
