Bali mood swings as crackdown bites into clubbing scene Bali mood swings as crackdown bites into clubbing scene
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bali-mood-swings-as-crackdown-bites-into-clubbing-scene/2005/08/26/1124563027225.html#
By Mark Forbes Herald Correspondent in Jakarta
August 27, 2005
It is peak clubbing season in Bali, the island crammed with tourists and wealthy locals. But this year the Kuta and Seminyak nightspots young Australians frequent are the prime target of a drugs crackdown that has led to more than 250 arrests.
Indonesia's avidly anti-drugs police chief, General Sutanto, is backing raids on the clubs of Bali and Jakarta, to applause from political leaders, howls from the entertainment industry and disbelief from a public aware many police get a cut of the action.
Drugs are easily available in Bali. On a late-night stroll past Club 66 this week - where the Sydney model Michelle Leslie allegedly obtained ecstasy that could put her in jail for years - several young men on motorcycles made offers to the Herald.
"What you want, mister, ecstasy, just 150,000 rupiah [$20]?" asked Max, lifting his shirt to show he was not armed. "Look, no police, no police."
Longtime Bali partygoers such as Shelly, 24, an Australian, who asked that her surname not be used, warn that many dealers are undercover officers. She has not been out for a month, after one night was interrupted by a police search.
"It freaked people out; they were running to the toilets to get rid of what they had. We go out for a good time, not to have the cops shutting the music off for an hour. They should be locking up the people selling it to us, rather than getting us in the clubs."
The raids put a dampener on the scene, Shelly said. "It definitely puts people off. You are looking for undercover cops. It's not as relaxed as it used to be. That model's arrest is just adding fuel to the fire after the nine Australians and the Schapelle thing."
Others shrug their shoulders, selling ecstasy pills for cash in a dark corner of the Dju bar, down the road from Club 66.
The head of Bali's drug squad, Lieutenant-Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, vows to do whatever it takes to stamp out the trade, but denies the cases of Leslie, Schapelle Corby and nine other Australians on heroin charges mean he is targeting one nationality. Many other foreigners and even more locals were being jailed, with drug arrests nearly quadrupling in two years, he said.
"The number of Australian tourists here rank second only to Japan, there are more people and the chance of breaking the law is bigger," Colonel Sugiarto said. He got enthusiastic backing from General Sutanto, a former head of the National Narcotics Agency, who announced the crackdown two months ago. He visited Bali this week, welcoming the publicity of the Leslie case.
"We can detect whoever comes to Bali so Bali becomes a safe place," General Sutanto said. "We won't let Bali be used by both local and foreign drug users."
The agency's senior commissioner, Indradi Tanos, who is co-ordinating the crackdown, said arrests of local celebrities and Australians were positive, because they sent an anti-drugs message to young people in both countries.
Many Australian tourists in Bali agreed with the Prime Minister, John Howard, that taking drugs in Asia was silly. "I just think: how stupid are you? I don't know how anyone would want to risk something like that," Kylie Rando said.
Although she was too "buggered" from shopping to do much late-night clubbing, she said: "I would never go out alone, and always keep my bag close by."
The Australian ambassador, David Ritchie, this week sent an email to travellers and residents, warning that trafficking, carrying or taking drugs in Indonesia was "not worth the risk".
The Jakarta raids have been even tougher than in Bali, with urine tests carried out on nightclub patrons, netting celebrities and actors among 140 positive results. Clubs have complained that 40,000 workers have been laid off because the tests have scared off customers.
Dadang Hawari, a psychiatrist and adviser to the narcotics agency, believes the crackdown may be too late. Many young Indonesians are already taking marijuana, "while most young executives use ecstasy because the pills are considered more stylish".
Corrupt police were part of the problem, he said. "The low-ranking officers who are in the frontline of anti-drugs campaign earn only relatively low income - they try and increase it by selling drugs."
Colonel Sugiarto said he was investigating colleagues for "direct or indirect involvement in drug trafficking' and insisted they risked being charged and dismissed.
Mr Tanos said the Australian Federal Police fully supported the crackdown. Earlier this year a police raided a drug factory, disguised as an Islamic school, an hour from Jakarta. It was producing more than 250,000 ecstasy pills a day.
"We have dismantled one international syndicate, but it proved Indonesia is becoming a production country," Mr Tanos said. "Australian police are also aware of the trend so they are trying to use Indonesia as the front line."
Many in Bali believe the raids are a fad to be waited out before business returns to normal. They may be mistaken, given the impetus from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Arriving in Indonesia two months ago I, along with several million others, received a text message from the president. "Stop drug abuse and drug-related crimes right now," it read. "Let us preserve and build a healthy, smart and progressive nation."
UK : Reading : more crime’n’grime as armed police bust crackhouse… what I find particulally worrying about this is the young age of all the people involved, and the links with the London gangs, particularly in the wake of Mary-Ann Leneghan's murder... in the old skool days the crack users would be in their late 20s and 30s (they wouldn't last much longer than that though if they didn't give up)
these young people should be out raving at free parties, not getting involved with crack which only leads to addiction and violence (particularly against the girls who might think they are "rude gals" but are just treated as meat by the boys)
IMO this crack culture could wreck the rave scene and progressive youth movements worse than anything the cops could do...
Eight people arrested after drugs raids - Reading
Eight people have been arrested, seven of which remain in custody after officers searched seven homes and seized an estimated 300-400 wraps of crack cocaine and a substantial amount of cash.
Officers stopped a Renault Clio and a Ford Ka outside the Jet Garage in Oxford Road, Reading, at just before 4pm yesterday (25/7) leading to the arrest of six people – male and female - and the seizure of cash.
As a result, police then executed search warrants at two addresses in Sherwood Street in Reading. Two further addresses, one in Temple Place, Reading, and one in Elvaston Way, Reading, were also searched. In the course of these searches two further people were arrested.
Houses in Wanstead, Greenwich and Hackney, London were also searched. These searches ended at around 4am today.
Crack cocaine, with an estimated value of £20 a wrap, cash – the total sum of which will not be disclosed at this time – and drugs paraphernalia were seized.
One of the eight people, a 21-year-old Tilehurst woman, has been released on bail pending further inquiries. She is due to return on 23 August.
A 20-year-old man from Greenwich, London; a 21-year-old Reading man; a 22-year-old man from Hackney, London, a 23-year-old Reading man, an 18-year-old Reading girl and two 21-year-old women from London remain in police custody.
They are being held at stations across Berkshire West and are due to be questioned by officers throughout today.
US: Rave fans across nation, online weigh in on Racine crackdown – December 2002 Rave fans across nation, online weigh in on Racine crackdown
Published by JS Online - Monday 9th December 2002
Copyright: JS Online
Police citations written to 441 people for attending a rave? What! From Washington state to Washington, D.C., you can almost hear the e-mails and newsgroup postings whizzing by.
"When there's word of something like this, it spreads pretty quick," Madison, Ill., rave promoter Jeff Lofink said in an interview Monday. He'd seen postings about the Racine rave bust on http://www.stlouisraver.com/, http://www.hallucination.com/ and in various Internet newsgroups.
"Usually, you have to be doing something wrong to get a ticket," Lofink said, explaining why some people are upset.
His impression of Racine?
A place "where the police don't follow the laws too much, where they feel they can overstep their bounds."
The Police Department certainly has come under fire, albeit mostly from teenagers and young adults who attend rave parties, where "electronic music" has found a home. The national criticism, some officials say, may be unfair.
When the Racine County Sheriff's Department raided a rave in Yorkville, it did what many law enforcement agencies have done: break up the party and write citations to the party organizers.
That's a far cry from the 441 citations - at $968 apiece - that Racine police wrote to everyone attending a Nov. 2 rave near downtown.
But the Yorkville rave was six or seven years ago, Sheriff William McReynolds said, before local authorities had any indication that rave parties were virtually synonymous with the illegal use of drugs, usually Ecstasy.
"I think the Police Department was looking at a whole different situation," the sheriff said.
Journal Sentinel reporters attended a rave in late April at the Alliant Energy Center of Madison and found much the same thing. Ecstasy seemed to be the main attraction that night among the crowd of 3,000. About two-thirds of the young people who were asked acknowledged using the drug, and some said they bought it there.
The use of Ecstasy is skyrocketing nationwide. A recent report from the U.S. Department of Justice indicated that emergency room personnel had seen a 500% increase in patients on the drug in the six years ending in 1999. It is now considered the fastest-growing drug problem in Wisconsin.
However, rave fans on the Internet think it was outrageous that merely attending the Racine party resulted in getting a citation for being an "inmate of a disorderly house/controlled substances."
Pointing out that only three people at the party were arrested on drug charges, they said in interviews that they're spreading word about the Racine bust, in part, to be prepared if the tactic is used elsewhere.
"There's just this misconception that we're the only ones doing (drugs)," said Mike Phillips, 26, of suburban Washington, D.C. "I go because I like the music. You can't punish the people that are going for the right reasons because of the ones that are going (for drugs)."
Phillips and others who discuss the Racine bust and other rave issues over the Internet said they had never heard of police writing citations to party-goers. They said Racine police probably cracked down hard so that no raves would be held in the city in the future - and that the technique probably was effective.
City officials have acknowledged that they want to deter future parties, even as the city attorney's office has made plea bargains. Last week, those cited who pleaded no contest to the "inmate/controlled substances" citation were fined only $100. And on Monday, when the second wave of ravers made their initial court appearance, those who pleaded no contest received the lower fine and had their citation changed to disorderly conduct, with no reference to controlled substances.
But the city still faces the potentially costly prospect of having to hire a special prosecutor and pay police overtime for hundreds of trials. In numbers similar to last week, 94 of the 139 who appeared in court Monday pleaded not guilty, 28 did not appear and only 17 took the plea bargain.
Police in Racine were suckered by the "corporate sensational media," which make it seem that every rave is rife with illegal drug use, said Jon Gibson, 23, of Vancouver, Wash. The crackdown will only create more danger, he said, because rather than being held in bars, raves will go back to being held underground.
That would be a shame, said Dave Meeker of Chicago, director of The Selekta, an organization that supports electronic music deejays, promoters and producers. As rave parties have become more public, they have increased security and searches at the door, he said.
"I don't know how many times I've seen drug dealers pushed out the door and their drugs flushed down the toilet" without police needing to intervene, Meeker said.
Others who have gotten involved in the Racine bust aren't fighting for the right to party, necessarily, but to preserve civil liberties.
Amy Tyler, host of a daily talk show on KTBB-AM in Houston, said she had discussed the Racine case several times last week because she and her listeners view the raid as a misuse of police power.
"Government has just gotten away with too much for too long, and it's time we started fighting back," Tyler said.
http://www.jsonline.com/
The CRACK den next door – Q2 2003 The crack den next door
Published by The Guardian - Monday 21 April, 2003
Copyright: The Guardian
Police policy towards neighbourhood drug dealers is hopelessly inadequate and needs a complete overhaul
The oddest thing about living next door to a crack den is how boring it becomes. After a while, the screaming rows, the urine-soaked steps and abuse from users become predictable and depressing rather than disturbing. I was scared when addicts tried to enter my home and wept with frustration when I had to scrape human faeces away from my front door. But I was largely inured to these problems until I turned the corner of my road one morning and saw the Crimestoppers posters.
"Don't let London suffer the side effects of crack," the adverts thunder, urging us to shop dealers. At that point, anger took over.
Well, I have shopped and shopped and shopped, and so have most of my neighbours. We have shopped so enthusiastically we make Elton John look frugal. We have sung like a choir of canaries, offering times, dates and vehicle number plates.
Six months on, the crack house is thriving and pensioners are still scared to go out on their own. Hardly surprising, since crack dealing is associated with aggression, violence and theft. Users spend almost twice as much on their habit as heroin addicts - £478 a month, on average - which might explain why they are so keen to get into our homes.
For all these reasons, I welcome the Home Office's new plans to tackle the problem. Bob Ainsworth, the drugs minister, has promised extra cash for 37 crack-ridden communities, including mine in London; overall, the government will beef up its anti-drugs budget by £500m to £1.5bn by 2005.
It has issued new guidelines for those fighting drugs and has promised to improve policing, tailor services for addicts and support vulnerable young people to stop them falling prey to the drug in the first place. Police forces are targeting markets and officers have closed down three dens in my neighbourhood alone.
All of this sounds terrific, and much of it might help. Perhaps, with luck, "our" crackhouse will be the next to go.
The good news is that crack can still be controlled; it is not (yet) an epidemic. According to last year's British Crime Survey, only 0.2% of 16- to 59-year-olds had taken it in the last year.
Dealing is heavily concentrated in deprived areas like mine. But it is not an inevitable consequence of poverty and there are measures that can - and must - be taken while broader issues are addressed. The question is whether a 34-page plan will succeed where common sense has so far failed. The inadequacies of existing practice are blindingly obvious to anyone who has encountered crack use.
First, we need prompt action. We know that police resources are stretched, but crack must be a priority. I say that not just because it is in my back (or front) yard, but because the longer dealing is allowed to continue, the more entrenched it becomes.
Suppliers and their customers become increasingly brazen; dealers have time to find vulnerable people whose homes they can use when existing crack houses are closed. Worst of all, users become addicts.
Forget the myths. No one gets hooked on crack from a single hit. It takes time to de velop a habit, which is why we need to disrupt that process as soon as possible.
For the same reason, we need to target users as well as suppliers. Dealers are smart enough to sell crack in small quantities so that customers take it at once.
Police say there is no point in "attending" because the evidence has disappeared by the time they arrive. But that can hardly be the case when they are called in the middle of a large delivery.
Second, we need better coordination. Information is not filtering through organisations, never mind reaching other agencies. You can report an immediate problem to police, but that does not mean that their colleagues will know about it the next day or even the next week. They complain about a lack of help but squander what they are given.
Coordination also means thinking about long-term consequences, ensuring that users are rehoused in new areas and are not replaced by vulnerable people who are likely to fall prey to dealers.
Third, action must be sustained. At one point the police camped out on my street for four days, intercepting addicts on their way to the crackhouse. Glorious peace reigned... for four days; the morning after they left, the users returned.
Most of all, we need help for addicts. Users must be offered help at the first opportunity and must continue to be offered support even if - more probably when - they reject it or relapse.
Heroin addicts get methadone; crack users lack even that imperfect substitute, so need treatment such as therapy rather than a drug-based regime.
The government's most important promise is to think creatively, and to ensure early appointments and low waiting times.
That crack addicts are among the drug users most reluctant to seek treatment is more, not less, reason to focus on helping them. My neighbour and his customers are not bad people. They are desperate. So are those of us who have to live with them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
World: Crack Serbian police arrested – Q2 2003 Crack Serbian police arrested
Published by BBC News - Monday 21 April, 2003
Copyright: BBC News
Serbian police have reportedly arrested 15 members of an elite unit suspected of involvement in the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic two weeks ago.
The detainees are all members of the 300-strong Unit for Special Operations (JSO), which was disbanded on Wednesday on the orders of the Serbian Government, the Associated Press news agency reported.
JSO commander Dusan Maricic was among those arrested - his deputy Zvezdan Jovanovic was detained earlier in the week on suspicion of carrying out the assassination.
The arrests come amid reports that the crackdown on organised crime has led to soaring prices for illegal drugs and increased criminal activity by addicts.
The JSO, better known as the "Red Berets", is said to have close links to the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic.
The Serbian authorities have accused the unit's former commander, Milorad Lukovic, of masterminding the killing.
More than 1,000 people have been arrested in the crackdown, which began after Mr Djindjic was shot outside government buildings in Belgrade on 12 March.
Addicts warning
Meanwhile, Mr Djindjic's assassination has had unexpected consequences for Serbia's drug users, Reuters news agency reported.
The government crackdown which followed the late prime minister's murder has targeted organised crime, sending drug prices soaring on the streets of Belgrade.
Police have stepped up security at pharmacies to prevent raids by addicts looking to steal tranquillisers.
The government in turn has warned the public that drug users may turn to violence as they try to sustain their habit.
Hospitals and clinics have reported an increase in the number of drug users seeking help.
The country's only clinic specialising in drug addiction said that 900 people a week have been coming through its doors since Mr Djindjic's killing, an increase of almost 80%.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
World: Concern at Thai drug crackdown – Q2 2003 Concern at Thai drug crackdown
Published by BBC News - Monday 21 April, 2003
Copyright: BBC News
Diplomats in Thailand say there is growing international concern over the rising death toll since the government announced an all-out campaign against drug dealers at the beginning of this month
It has been three weeks since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to stamp out drugs in Thailand, and the killing seems to be getting out of hand.
Every day newspapers and television programmes show grisly pictures of alleged drug dealers lying in pools of blood, all with guns and bags of methamphetamine pills in their hands.
Official figures put the death toll at more than 600, although the police say that only 300 of these were on an official black list and that nearly all were killed by their rivals.
Suspicious
But the striking similarity among the victims- all shot execution-style- and the fact that no investigations of their deaths have taken place, has led many Thais to suspect that there is an official shoot-to-kill policy in place.
Several ministers have suggested that drug dealers should be wiped out, and local police forces are under strong pressure to show quick results in the fight against drugs.
International human rights organisations have already expressed their deep concern over the killings, which they say have cast a shadow over Thailand's relatively favourable human rights record.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
World: Senator says COCAINE should be sold in liquor stores – November 2002 Senator: Cocaine and heroin should be sold in liquor stores
By chealth - Monday, 21 October, 2002
Copyright: chealth
VANCOUVER (CP) -- A B.C. senator says cocaine and heroin should be sold in liquor stores because the drugs are already available through illegal means that result in huge profits for dealers.
Senator Edward Lawson said the controlled distribution of the drugs that have cost hundreds of lives through overdoses in recent years in the Vancouver area alone would also ensure the drugs are not tainted.
"Maybe we should tie (the drugs) together with the liquor stores, have it government controlled and have them quality controlled," said Lawson, who is part of the Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs.
The committee is attending public hearings across the country to get input on the issue of illicit drugs.
Lawson was joined by B.C. colleague Senator Pat Carney in advocating a formal debate on the legalization of marijuana. Alliance MP Keith Martin introduced a private members' bill on the issue Wednesday.
Lawson said Switzerland dispenses drugs such as heroin through clinics and that Canada already has some programs that treat cocaine addicts, for example, by giving them limited amounts of the drug.
"We do it here on a controlled basis but we're kind of tippy-toeing in that, almost as if we're afraid we might have a successful result," Lawson said in an interview.
He said it's time for Canada to seriously consider implementing new policies to deal with the drug problem that has taken a toll on people, including the recent deaths of young Vancouver-area residents who took the rave drug ecstasy.
"My God, this cries out for desperate measures and a different look at the way we do things," Lawson said.
Dr. Mark Tyndall, who treats AIDS/HIV patients at Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital, told the committee 16 of the 18 beds originally intended for people with the disease are now occupied by addicts who contracted it through intravenous drug use.
Tyndall said Lawson's idea of dispensing cocaine and heroin in liquor stores would make for an interesting experiment.
"I don't think (liquor stores) would be flooded by people lining up. You and I wouldn't be lining up with our kids to buy heroin and cocaine at a liquor store."
He said such a plan, combined with a comprehensive treatment program, would also provide opportunities for hard-core users to get out of the drug spiral.
On the issue of decriminalizing marijuana, Lawson said police use millions of dollars in resources in busting numerous grow-ops in British Columbia but courts are too lenient in dealing with the criminals.
Legalizing and taxing the billion-dollar industry would mean the money generated could be used for education and health programs, he said.
Lawson, who was appointed to the Senate by former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, also said there's merit to Martin's private members' bill and that most people he's talked to around the country favour decriminalizing pot.
Conservative Senator Carney said the issue of legalizing marijuana should be debated separately from policies on other illicit drugs that are more harmful.
"One of our jobs as a committee is to separate those two issues," she said.
"You can't really lump in the human tragedy and the cost and the waste of life in (Vancouver's) Downtown Eastside ... with someone who wants to smoke pot and drink wine in the privacy of his home."
The Senate committee is reviewing Canada's anti-drug laws on marijuana and is scheduled to present its report on cannabis to the senate in August 2002.
Vancouver mayor Philip Owen told the senators that Canada must implement a national policy to deal with the illegal drug trade, help addicts and prevent associated property crime.
"As the world becomes increasingly smaller, the regional, national and international implications of a comprehensive system of care to address substance misuse and crime is of key importance," Owen said.
Vancouver is developing an extensive drug policy that advocates prevention, treatment, enforcement and harm reduction.
http://www.canoe.ca/
World: Cracking Mexico’s drug cartels – June 2002 Cracking Mexico's drug cartels
By BBC News - Saturday, 15 June, 2002
Copyright: BBC News
One of the many knock-on effects since the attacks on the United States last September has been the dramatic increase in drugs seizures on the Mexico/US border.
Tightened US security to fight terrorism along the 3,000km frontier has made it harder for smugglers to transport cocaine and other drugs.
But US authorities are not the only ones turning the screws. In Mexico, long seen as home to corrupt drugs officers, efforts have been stepped up against the traffickers.
A greater trust between the two nations has led to unprecedented co-operation in the fight against drugs.
Nowhere is that new trust more evident or more important than around the town of Tijuana on the US border below San Diego. The area is home to some of Mexico's most notorious drugs cartels.
Half of all the cocaine entering the United States, possibly as much as 80 tonnes a year, crosses at hundreds of points along the border in the desert stretching out to the east of the city.
Flying over the area in a government helicopter it is easy to see the daunting nature of the task. The border follows high mountains, far from any major cities.
"We know that we can't intercept all the drugs that make it across," Captain Andrez Ruiz, from Mexico's federal police drugs unit, tells me as we fly low over the border fence.
"But this year alone we have intercepted three tonnes of cocaine, twice as much as last year."
Police corruption
Down on the ground, we make our way past a boarded-up ranch that until two months ago was the site of a major tunnel. This was the direct entry point for up to two tonnes of cocaine into the United States every year.
It was discovered in a joint operation between US and Mexican anti-drugs agents.
Information in the past would never have been shared because of corruption among Mexican officers.
"We would call our cooperation with the Mexicans unprecedented," says US deputy ambassador to Mexico John Dickson.
Relations were extremely bad in the 1980s after a US undercover drug enforcement agent was tortured and killed, after being set-up by his Mexican colleagues.
"It took us a long time to get over that, now the era of mutual recriminations and finger pointing is over," Mr Dickson says.
It certainly seems to be something of a new beginning for cross-border drugs cooperation. For years the Mexican police have been plagued with corrupt officers. That is now changing.
The process started in the mid-1990s while the Institutional Revolutionary Party, the PRI, which ruled Mexico for 70 years, was still in power.
But the clean-up has been accelerated since Vicente Fox came to power two years ago.
Dawn raids
"In the past we would fire corrupt officers, but we didn't prosecute them and they often ended as officers in other parts of the country," says Victor de la Torre, hyperactive head of special operations for the federal police in Mexico.
"Now the bad cops go to trial and never work as officers again. That's one of the reasons why the US is taking us more seriously."
As the dawn breaks over the dusty town of Tijuana his squad prepare for another raid.
This time they are acting on information from the United States Drug Enforcement Agency that there is a ranch being used as a crack cocaine laboratory linked to distributors in the US.
This time the spoils are meagre. The squad turns up nothing but a few grammes of the drug, but the police do turn up information that could help them in the future.
Certainly there have been failings on both sides of the border to combat the huge illegal drugs.
But, with the US and Mexican authorities working more effectively together rather than at cross purposes, both governments will be hoping to cut even deeper into the cartels' multi billion dollar profits.
With demand for drugs at record levels north of the border that will be seen as welcome news by the US electorate.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Concern at Thai drug crackdown BBC News
Diplomats in Thailand say there is growing international concern over the rising death toll since the government announced an all-out campaign against drug dealers at the beginning of this month.
It has been three weeks since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to stamp out drugs in Thailand, and the killing seems to be getting out of hand.
Every day newspapers and television programmes show grisly pictures of alleged drug dealers lying in pools of blood, all with guns and bags of methamphetamine pills in their hands.
Official figures put the death toll at more than 600, although the police say that only 300 of these were on an official black list and that nearly all were killed by their rivals.
Suspicious
But the striking similarity among the victims- all shot execution-style- and the fact that no investigations of their deaths have taken place, has led many Thais to suspect that there is an official shoot-to-kill policy in place.
Several ministers have suggested that drug dealers should be wiped out, and local police forces are under strong pressure to show quick results in the fight against drugs.
International human rights organisations have already expressed their deep concern over the killings, which they say have cast a shadow over Thailand's relatively favourable human rights record.
Noisy neighbours face crackdown Loud music is one of the key complaints
Noisy neighbours who make their fellow residents' lives a misery are to be targeted in new laws being considered by ministers. Plans are being unveiled to make it easier for local councils to take action against people making a din late at night.
Environment Minister Michael Meacher is also launching a consultation drive to hear the public's views on how to reduce noise from transport and industry. The new efforts to tackle this problem come as the latest figures on noise complaints are published by the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health.
Complaints over noise have more than doubled in the last decade - even allowing for the growth in population. This 2000/01 figures show there were more than 118,000 complaints about noisy neighbours.
Mr Meacher told BBC News the problem of noise pollution, whether it be background noise from roads and aircraft or from noisy neighbours, was widespread. The numbers of complaints were huge and showed no signs of going down.
Making lives hell
"It's something that ruins the lives of many people."
Rising noise complaints were caused by a number of factors, suggested the minister, pointing at traffic, late night parties and people just "selfishly banging doors". Mr Meacher said councils need to be able to act quickly and without red tape to tackle the problem.
Heathrow flight noise has provoked residents' anger. Under current laws, local councils could only take action against people making a noise at night through powers in the 1996 Noise Act.
"The trouble with that is local authorities have to adopt the whole act, which requires them to set up a 24-hour service," said Mr Meacher. "That is very expensive. Only 14 out of 550 authorities are willing to do that so the night noise offence is not used."
Under the new plans, local councils would be able to use the powers - which include fines and confiscating hi-fi equipment - without going to the expense of adopting the whole act. It is understood there could also be a new publicity drive targeted at noise-makers - something that could be rolled out into a national advertising campaign, although no decision has yet been taken to do that.
Background noise
New research into noise awareness is also expected to be on the government's agenda. Underlining the need for public consultation on reducing background noise from roads and flight paths, Mr Meacher said such pollution caused misery for "tens of thousands" of people.
That problem has most recently hit the headlines when the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of south-west London residents calling for an end to night flights to and from Heathrow Airport. The government has refused to ban night flights despite that decision, and now looks set to appeal against the ruling. The Department for Environment said the noise consultation plans were drawn up well before that case went to court.
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