Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07VIENTIANE477
2007-06-06 09:59:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Vientiane
Cable title:  

GOL WORRIED ABOUT MARIJUANA TRAFFICKERS IN

Tags:  LA PGOV SNAR VM 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO6836
PP RUEHCHI RUEHHM
DE RUEHVN #0477/01 1570959
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 060959Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENTIANE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1297
INFO RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK 7348
RUEHHI/AMEMBASSY HANOI 2854
RUEHPF/AMEMBASSY PHNOM PENH 1903
RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY 0047
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI 0567
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENTIANE 000477 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS
STATE FOR INL/AAE
STATE FOR DS/IP/EAP
STATE FOR DS/IP/ITA (MOODY)
PACOM FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2017
TAGS: LA PGOV SNAR VM
SUBJECT: GOL WORRIED ABOUT MARIJUANA TRAFFICKERS IN
BOLIKHAMXAI

REF: A. VIENTIANE 449

B. VIENTIANE 288

C. VIENTIANE 085

D. 06 VIENTIANE 1205

Classified By: Charge D'Affaires a.i. Mary Grace McGeehan for Reason
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENTIANE 000477

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/MLS
STATE FOR INL/AAE
STATE FOR DS/IP/EAP
STATE FOR DS/IP/ITA (MOODY)
PACOM FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2017
TAGS: LA PGOV SNAR VM
SUBJECT: GOL WORRIED ABOUT MARIJUANA TRAFFICKERS IN
BOLIKHAMXAI

REF: A. VIENTIANE 449

B. VIENTIANE 288

C. VIENTIANE 085

D. 06 VIENTIANE 1205

Classified By: Charge D'Affaires a.i. Mary Grace McGeehan for Reason 1.
4 (D)


1. (C) Summary: Provincial officials in Bolikhamxai
Province are worried that they are losing control of eastern
border districts to drug traffickers producing marijuana for
commercial export. These districts are populated by upland
minorities including Hmong and Khamu. The officials stated
that the groups controlling this production are unlike
anything that the police have encountered before, both in
organizational capacity and propensity for violence. While
provincial officials are leery of any effort to attempt
forced eradication and favor drug education programs as a
mitigating measure, the central government has said that it
may have to send the military in to determine the extent of
the marijuana and eradicate it if necessary. The GOL has
said informally that it may request U.S. counter-narcotics
funding for a marijuana survey. End Summary.


2. (C) On May 10, NAS Director met in Paksane with Mr.
Bounpone Intavong, the Director of the Bolikhamxai Provincial
Committee for Drug Control (PCDC),and his staff. Also
attending the meeting was Kou Chansina, Acting Vice Chairman
of the Lao National Commission for Drug Control and
Supervision (LCDC). Bounpone said that he had become very
concerned about recent developments in Viengthong and
Khamkeut Districts, which border Vietnam on the eastern side
of Bolikhamxai. According to the PCDC staff, trafficking
organizations have set up commercial production of marijuana
in remote, dispersed tracts throughout the border region.
Some plots are in areas so isolated that they can only be
reached by a three-day movement on foot.


3. (C) According to Bounpone, the marijuana is being
produced for export to Thailand and elsewhere in the region.
He stated that unlike opium, marijuana is not grown for local
consumption; it is produced only at the direction of the
trafficking organizations which pay local villagers to travel

deep into the hill country and establish small plots. (Note:
Bounpone could not identify the origin of the new
trafficking organizations.) End note.


4. (C) Bounpone told the NAS Director that he favored
addressing the growing marijuana problem through drug
education that would focus on the illicit nature of cannabis
cultivation and the potential legal peril for those involved.
He stated that he preferred to avoid any attempt at
eradication, because it was likely to provoke a violent
reaction from traffickers and growers. Consensus among the
PCDC staff was that civilian police were clearly not up to
the task and currently are not able to undertake any cannabis
interdiction activities in the border region.


5. (C) Kou suggested that the first step in dealing with
this problem should be a survey, similar to, but on a smaller
scale than, the annual opium survey conducted by UNODC, so
that the GOL could determine the full extent of the problem.
He did not state exactly how this ought to be accomplished
but indicated that a substantial portion of the survey work
might have to be done on foot rather than through aerial
observation as with opium, because aircraft attempting to
over fly the marijuana fields might be fired upon. He said
that the GOL may seek U.S. funding for a survey under
existing LOAs (Comment: While we will review such a request
if in fact we receive one, it is unlikely that we would agree
to fund a program with this level of danger and military
involvement.)


6. (C) Kou said that, if eradication was necessary, it would
have to be done by military units. The PCDC staff agreed.
They and Kou affirmed that civil authorities were not up to
the task of dealing with the violent traffickers controlling
the marijuana cultivation. Kou said that, "If we send

VIENTIANE 00000477 002 OF 002


soldiers in, a fire team (four to five) won't do. We will
need to send platoons (approximately thirty to forty soldiers
each) to deal with the security problems that an eradication
effort might entail."


7. (C) When the NAS Director inquired as to the nature and
size of the trafficking organizations, neither the PCDC nor
LCDC representatives had any answers. According to the PCDC
staff, much of the border region is populated by ethnic Khmu
villages, but all felt it unlikely that the villagers had a
role other than as paid cultivators. (Note: The districts
are home to a large number of Hmong, some of whom have been
displaced or otherwise impacted by hydropower development in
the region). When asked about the use of informants, Kou
responded that traffickers paid too well and killed too
easily, making intelligence collection extremely difficult.
The ruggedness of these remote areas adds to the difficulty
the province faces in ascertaining the scope of the cannabis
trade. The NAS then inquired about traffickers operating on
both sides of the border with Vietnam, and the PCDC staff
said that that was a possibility but added that law
enforcement cooperation with Vietnam was very good.


8. (C) Comment: The issue of marijuana production in
Bolikhamxai is not new; what has changed is the GOL's level
of concern. This is the first time that GOL officials,
albeit at the provincial level, have admitted to the NAS that
they have largely lost control of districts to traffickers.
If true, this is a serious problem, and the potential
strength of trafficking organizations, if left unchecked, is
more worrisome than the immediate problem of marijuana
cultivation. End Comment.
MCGEEHAN