The government will unveil a comprehensive, multi-agency plan to combat the smuggling of narcotics on Jan 30, Deputy Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said yesterday.
Mr Phumtham made the announcement after former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra -- who is widely believed to be the de facto leader of the Pheu Thai Party -- promised at a recent campaign rally in the Northeast that the government will take swift action against online scam syndicates and drug traffickers this year.
Mr Phumtham, who is also defence minister in Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra's cabinet, also said the PM had instructed him to come up with measures to curb the nation's growing drug problem.
"The government is serious about stamping out illegal drugs. What we plan to do is to tackle the problem at its source," he said, referring to narcotics production bases outside of the country.
However, inter-agency and bilateral cooperation will have to be strengthened for such an operation to succeed, he noted.
In the coming days, representatives from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board, the Anti-Money Laundering Office, the armed forces and other relevant agencies will meet to draw up the plan.
Once the plan is drawn up, it will be announced on Jan 30 by Ms Paetongtarn, Mr Phumtham said.
Drug smuggling is difficult to eradicate completely because Thailand's borders with its neighbours are relatively porous -- especially along the Mekong River -- giving traffickers plenty of alternatives to bypass official border checkpoints.
The deputy prime minister admitted that intelligence gathering needs to be improved before adding one way to improve intelligence gathering capabilities is by bringing in the right technology and tools for the job.
Patrolling officers, for instance, won't be able to cover all areas along the border. But with the right tools, they can cover the right place at the right time, forming a "double wall" against drug traffickers, he said.
This approach must be implemented in 51 districts across 14 provinces which lie on the western and eastern borders, where drug smuggling is known to be a problem.
He said officials who are considered to be unfit to secure the border will be reassigned to other posts, and district chiefs must do what they can to facilitate drug suppression in border areas under their jurisdiction.
