The following series of articles plucked from Laofab.
May explain the unexplained Army presence and occasional closure of the Mekong river road between the Golden triangle and Xieng Kok.
BEIJING: China on Monday suspended shipping on the Mekong after 11
sailors were killed on two cargo ships attacked last week in the
Golden Triangle where the river runs through China, Myanmar, Thailand
and Laos.
The halt in boat traffic was announced by the ministry of foreign
affairs and reported by the official Xinhua news agency, citing
maritime officials in southwest China's Yunnan province.
Two Chinese sailors remain missing after the cargo ships "Hua Ping"
and "Yu Xing 8" were attacked on October 5, foreign ministry spokesman
Liu Weimin said at a regular press briefing.
However, Xinhua reported that all 13 Chinese crewmen were dead, citing
Thai authorities who identified their killers as members of a drug
trafficking ring operating on the Mekong.
The Mekong, known in China as the Lancang River, rises on the Qinghai-
Tibet plateau and flows through southwest China's Yunnan province,
Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam to the South China Sea.
Out of 130 ships engaged in international shipping on the Mekong, 116
are operated by Chinese companies, according to the Lancang River
Maritime Affairs Bureau, Xinhua reported.
Some Chinese ship operators have asked their Chinese crew to return to
China overland from Thailand despite pending deliveries.
Maritime officials in Yunnan have begun to help Chinese crewmen return
home safely and have adopted "proper measures to protect Chinese ships
on the Mekong River", Xinhua said.
---
*Golden “Ghost” Triangle needs facelift*
Xinhua, 11 Oct 2011
13 Chinese crew members have been confirmed killed after two cargo
ships Hua Ping and Yu Xing were hijacked last Wednesday on Mekong
River near Golden Triangle.
12 bodies were found near Chiang Rai in northern Thailand on Friday
and Saturday. Another body was found in the same area early on Monday.
Most of the victims had been bound, blindfolded and shot. The crew
included two female cooks.
Thai army officials were cited as saying a gang run by ethnic Shan
drug trafficker Nor Kham was suspected to be behind the attacks. It
said the gang demands "protection money" from ships it hijacks on the
Mekong and kills crew members who refuse to cooperate. The area is
rife with gangs that constantly assault ships and pose a substantive
threat to the seaway which still tempts sailors with tremendous
commercial opportunities.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a passenger boat or a cargo ship. If you
don’t pay them, you either get robbed or killed,” a Thai police
official told The Bangkok Post newspaper.
In actuality, since the tragedy on Mekong River, a dozen Chinese boats
have anchored along the Thai shore and refused to make the perilous
trip back home.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin told a daily news
conference Monday that China had suspended shipping from Yunnan down
the Mekong and had sent a team to help investigate the killings. He
also said China had appealed to Thailand to boost security on the
river.
The Golden Triangle, an area covering around 950,000 km square and
where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, is notorious for
the production and trafficking of heroin and other illicit drugs.
And the Mekong River, known as the Lancang in China, is the longest
river in Southeast Asia. Originating from China's Qinghai Province,
the Mekong flows generally southeast to the South China Sea, a
distance of 4,200 km. The river crosses China’s Yunnan Province and
forms the border between Myanmar and Laos and most of the border
between Laos and Thailand, feeding over 60 million people.
Sailing along the Mekong could also meet with risks like assault and
hijacking. Still, cargo boats would venture out to seek fortune down
the sea.
In April, three Chinese boats and 34 crew members were taken hostage
by pirates along the Mekong in Myanmar but were rescued within days.
To cement the regional cooperation and ensure a win-win channel to
benefit all Mekong nations, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) was
formed in 1995 involving Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The MRC
is an international, country-driven river basin organization that
provides the institutional framework to promote regional cooperation.
In 1996 China and Myanmar became Dialogue Partners of the MRC and the
countries now work together within a cooperation framework.
The worst ever tragedy on the Mekong at the cost of 13 Chinese sailors
again sound an alarm to security of Mekong shipping and safety of
sailors. It is, therefore, desirable to establish a more effective and
inclusive consultation mechanism, which should be a long-term one
geared to laws and regulations of all the countries concerned, say, to
make joint cruises along the river and jointly combat crimes at sea
while ratcheting up efforts to protect ships and sailors of their
own.
The reason is simple -- only a secure and smooth sea passage can yield
profits for all.
----
*Drugs 'cross from casino'*
Bangkok Post, 9/10/2011
Twelve bodies have been found in the Mekong River in Chiang Rai's
Chiang Saen district.
The bodies of three Chinese men, their hands tied and handcuffed
behind their backs, were found on Friday, and another nine bodies,
also thought to be Chinese, were found Saturday.
Police said most of the nine bodies had also been blindfolded, tied
and handcuffed.
The dead men are believed to have crewed two Chinese-flagged cargo
ships which were hijacked by drug traffickers on Wednesday.
The bodies have been sent to Chiang Saen hospital for an autopsy.
Pol Col Popkorn Khuncharoensuk, Chiang Saen police chief, said he
would ask the Department of Special Investigation to step in.
Authorities from the Chinese embassy had been informed of the
discovery and on Saturday travelled to Chiang Saen to inspect the
bodies.
The grisly discovery has affected business in the district. Nikom
Wiboonrungruang, a manager of Chiang Saen Shipping Company Ltd, said
about 10 Chinese-flagged cargo ships were moored at Chiang Saen port
as they dared not travel back to China due to safety concerns.
The first find came on Friday when the body of a handcuffed Chinese
man was found near the Chiang Saen port.
Identified as Huang Yong, 30, he was the captain of the cargo ship Hua
Ping, which was seized by soldiers of the Pa Muang task force during
an anti-drug trafficking operation on the Mekong River on Wednesday
after a clash with drug traffickers.
His ship, which was carrying garlic and apples, and a second Chinese-
flagged ship Yu Xing 8 Hao, which was transporting fuel, were thought
to have been hijacked earlier by the traffickers.
The attackers, who wanted to use the ships to smuggle drugs into
Thailand from Burma, are thought to have killed Huang and his crew.
Another two dead Chinese men were found later in the Mekong River.
Their necks were broken and their faces covered with cloth, police
said.
The Pa Muang task force says it killed one suspected trafficker on the
Yu Xing 8 Hao during the firefight.
The others managed to flee overboard. The soldiers seized 520,000
speed pills kept in three sacks on the Hua Ping and 400,00 speed pills
on the Yu Xing 8 Hao.
The drugs were worth 100 million baht.
A Chinese-owned casino near the Thai-Burmese border is suspected of
being a transit point for drugs smuggled into Thailand, says the 3rd
Region Army.
Troops had seized methamphetamine pills from boats believed to have
carried the drugs across from the casino, located on Burmese soil
opposite Chiang Rai's Chiang Saen district, said 3rd army chief
Wannathip Wongwai.
The drugs were allegedly sent by the Burmese ethnic minority group the
United Wa State Army (USWA).
It is not known if the drugs found on the Chinese-flagged vessels came
from the casino.
