28/03/2025

FRIDAY | MAR 28, 2025

7

Thai Cabinet approves draft law for casinos

Vietnam police raid factory, seize 1.4 tonnes of ketamine HANOI: Police in Vietnam busted the country’s biggest synthetic drug factory, seizing 1.4 tonnes of ketamine in the coastal tourist city of Nha Trang. A six-month operation to uncover the drug ring culminated last Saturday when 200 officers raided three linked facilities in the southern city and arrested 11 people, including a Taiwanese national who was the alleged mastermind. “This is the largest synthetic drug manufacturing facility ever dismantled in Vietnam,” said Nguyen Van Vien, director of the department of drug-related crime investigation, according to a statement on the government’s official news portal. It featured “an exceptionally large-scale, modern production line, with advanced technology”, he said. Among those arrested were four Vietnamese nationals, four Chinese citizens and three Taiwanese, including the 51-year old alleged ringleader Chang Chun Ming, who police had monitored since his entry into Vietnam last August with a large shipment of glass tubes, the news portal said. Chang rented a 1,300 sq m plot of land in November in a remote area of Nha Trang, a city popular with Chinese tourists, and allegedly recruited two fellow Taiwanese with expertise in drug manufacturing. Activities were mainly conducted at night and the semi-finished product was later moved to another facility for purification. The drugs had extremely high purity but none had yet been distributed or sold, the government statement cited police as saying. A Vietnamese court sentenced 27 people to death in December after finding them guilty of trafficking more than 600kg of narcotics including heroin, ketamine and methamphetamine. Vietnam has strict laws and courts routinely hand out death sentences for drug convictions. Anyone caught with more than 600gm of heroin or more than 2.5kg of methamphetamine faces the death penalty. – AFP Taiwan jails four soldiers for spying TAIPEI: Four Taiwanese soldiers, including three from a unit in charge of security for the president’s office, have been sentenced to prison for photographing and leaking confidential information to China. The number of people prosecuted for spying for Beijing has risen sharply in recent years, with retired and serving members of Taiwan’s military the main targets of Chinese infiltration efforts, official figures show. It comes after President Lai Ching-te announced this month plans to reinstate military judges to hear espionage cases and other offences involving service members. Three members of a military unit in charge of security for the Presidential Office and a soldier in the Defence Ministry’s information and telecommunications command were convicted for violating national security law, the Taipei district court said on Wednesday. The four received jail terms ranging from five years and 10 months to seven years for passing “military information that should be kept confidential to Chinese intelligence agents for several months”, the court said. The crimes took place between 2022 and 2024, the court said, adding that the four had received payments ranging from around NT$260,000 to NT$660,000 (RM34,788 RM88,629), it said. Prosecutors said the soldiers had used their mobile phones to photograph military information. – AFP

o Tight restrictions bar most local gamblers

The government, led by the populist Pheu Thai party, hopes to attract at least 100 billion baht (RM13 billion) in new investment in casinos and entertainment complexes and see an annual boost to foreign arrivals of 5% to 10%, while generating revenue of more than 12 billion baht a year. Despite most betting and gambling being outlawed in Thailand, illicit operations have operated for years. A January opinion poll in Thailand indicated there was opposition to the plan, however, and some political parties have argued that building a gambling industry would worsen social problems. Several countries in Southeast Asia have legalised casinos, but only a few like wealthy Singapore has been successful in drawing global giants such as Las Vegas Sands Corp on the back of robust regulations. Tourism is a key driver of Thailand’s economy. The government expects 38 million foreign arrivals this year. – Reuters

blocking large swathes of the population, where per capita gross domestic product is about US$7,300 (RM32,357). A deputy finance minister had earlier this month said the assets requirement for Thai nationals would be dropped because it would exclude too many people. Another restriction is that the casino area may only occupy up to 10% of the entire space of an entertainment complex, according to a government statement. The draft law will be sent to parliament, and if passed, will also need approval from the Senate and the king. Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters the details of the law were not final as parliament would have the final say. A Citi report late last year estimated that about half of people aged 20 and more in Thailand could be casino players, providing a base for the country to potentially become the world’s third-largest gambling destination.

BANGKOK: Thailand’s Cabinet yesterday approved a draft law for casinos and entertainment complexes, as the government looks to attract more tourists and build a major gaming industry. Gambling is mostly banned in Thailand apart from state-controlled horse racing, the lottery and on some sports but successive governments have pressed the case for allowing casinos to draw in more foreign visitors and create more jobs and state revenue. But the latest draft approved by Cabinet will significantly limit how many Thai punters can go to casinos, with an entry fee of 5,000 baht (RM653) and proof of at least 50 million baht (RM6.51 million) in bank deposits, effectively

PREPARING FOR THE NEW YEAR ... Balinese Hindus carry sacred objects and offerings during a ritual to cleanse the body, mind and soul ahead of the holy day of Nyepi (Day of Silence) in Gianyar, Bali on Wednesday. – REUTERSPIC

Myanmar military puts on show of strength NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar mustered its embattled troops for a show of strength on Armed Forces Day yesterday, after a year of seismic defeats and turning to forcibly conscripting civilians to bolster its ranks.

“The reality is they still have a superior supply of arms,” said Myint, and they “don’t have to defeat everyone to maintain control”. War monitors say there has been a spike in airstrikes by the air force’s Russian-made jets. The past year has shown how strong a hand Beijing holds in Myanmar, with a willingness to play off the military and its opponents to pursue economic opportunities and stability on its borders, according to analyst Myint. After public concern spiked in China over scam centres in Myanmar, thousands of workers were repatriated at Beijing’s demand. “Beijing sees all these smaller players in the sandbox like insolent children not getting along,” Myint said. “They whip out the carrot one time, they whip out the stick the next, and hold it together in a manner that best serves their interests.” – AFP

swathes of the western Rakhine state, and sought to conscript more than 50,000 people. The civil war pits the military against anti coup guerillas and long-established groups. More than 3.5 million people are displaced, half the population live in poverty and one million civilians face World Food Programme aid cuts next month following US President Donald Trump’s slashing of Washington’s humanitarian budget. At the same time, trade sanctions have isolated Myanmar, making it increasingly dependent on China and Russia for economic and military support. “The military has never been defeated this severely,”according to Jack Myint, a non-resident fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank. But observers agree its grip on the centre is secure for now.

Thousands of soldiers marched before State Administration Council Chairman Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyidaw, where a banner over the approach to the parade ground reads: “Only when the military is strong will the country be strong”. Special forces guarded the main entrance to the remote, purpose-built capital. The parades have gotten progressively smaller in the four years of civil war since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government. Since the last Armed Forces Day, the military has lost the key northern town of Lashio – including a regional military command – and