University of Virginia Library

Operation

Moving the opium from Burma
to Thailand or Laos is a big and
dangerous operation. One of Chan's
caravans, says one awe-struck
observer, may stretch in single file
for well over a mile and may
include 200 mules, 200 porters,
200 cooks and camp attendants,
and about 400 armed guards.

Such a caravan can easily carry
15 to 20 tons of opium worth
nearly a million dollars when
delivered to the syndicate men in
Laos or Thailand.

To get his caravans to market,
however, Chan must pay a price,
for the crucial part of his route is
heavily patrolled not by Thais or
Laotians but by nomadic Nationalist
Chinese or Kuomintang (KNT)
troops. Still supported by the ruling
KMT or Taiwan. Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek's 93rd Division
controls a major part of the opium
flowing out of Burma and Thailand.
Kai-shek's 93rd Division controls a
major part of the opium flowing
out of Burma and Thailand.

Roving bands of mercenary
bandits, they fled to northern
Burma in 1949 as Chiang's armies
were being routed on the Chinese
mainland, and have maintained
themselves since by buying opium
from the nearby Meo tribesmen
which they then resell, or by
exacting tribute payments from
entrepreneurs like Chan Chi-foo.

As travellers to the area attest,
these troops also supplement their
income by running intelligence
operations into China and Burma
for the U.S.