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Burma Police Killed on Drug Patrol

   VOA News 06 March 2010

   Burma's  official  media  reported  Saturday  that  troops confiscated
   grenades  and  other  weapons from a border hide-out used by suspected
   drug  traffickers,  after an earlier gunbattle killed 13 policemen and
   members of their patrol.
   The  state-run  New  Light  of  Myanmar  said the shoot-out took place
   February  20  near  the  northeastern town of Tachileik, which borders
   Thailand.
   The  report  said  an  anti-drug squad was patrolling the Mekong river
   near  Tachileik  when  it encountered drug traffickers and a gunbattle
   broke  out.  Eight policemen were killed, along with two local militia
   members  and  three  police  boat  drivers.   Two police officers were
   wounded.
   The  paper  said  that police, acting on a tip, found 15 tents several
   days  later  on an island in the Mekong.  Authorities seized grenades,
   rifles,   ammunition  and  blocks  of  caffeine  -  an  ingredient  of
   methamphetamine tablets.


   Some information for this report was provided by AP.

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