Mizzima awarded global JTI certificate for reliable news on Myanmar

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Mizzima Mizzima, one of Myanmar ’s most prominent news outlets and a press freedom advocate, obtained the Journalism Trust Initiative ( JTI ) certification from global audit firm Bureau Veritas , JTI says in a press statement 5 January.  Operating in clandestine mode within Myanmar and supported by an exiled team, Mizzima strives to fulfil its role as reliable source of news and information for the Myanmar public. “Your Journalism Trust Initiative certification affirms what audiences already know: that principled, transparent journalism matters. Congratulations on this achievement and on your continued contribution to informing citizens about Myanmar,” says Benjamin Sabbah , director of Journalism Trust Initiative “Myanmar’s ongoing conflict has created an intensely contested media landscape, where mis- and disinformation are increasingly deployed to reinforce state propaganda and the prevailing “official” narrative. Although Mizzima is already regarded as one of the most trusted ...
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Sino-Burmese drug dealer caught, 20kg Ice seized in Thai north

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Wednesday, 04 August 2010 23:02 Perry Santanachote

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – From his home in Na Kaung Muu in Burma’s Shan State, Laota Yang crossed the rocky border two kilometres into Doi Angkhang in Chiang Mai in Thailand’s north late on Friday with three friends and 20 kilogrammes of crystal methamphetamine, or Ice.

Colonel Ittiporn Junsributara of the Thai Narcotics Suppression Bureau said the four had arranged a deal two months ago with undercover agents and were to make the exchange at the Angkhang market in the morning.

At around 9 a.m. on July 31, the Ice swap was made on one side of the market while Yang, 40, waited on the other for the money, with two grenades in his pockets. He was unaware his comrades had been caught but had managed to outrun the police into the jungle after ditching their 60 million baht (US$1.8 million) package of Ice.

By the time Yang realised his new customer was an undercover narcotics officer, more than two dozen police and border patrol officers had him surrounded.

Officers from Thailand’s drug bureau had received a tip that Yang, a Burmese citizen of Chinese descent, was a major player in the Thai-Burmese drug trade. Working with Border Patrol Police Region Three officers, the combined force managed to execute its first arrest from this particular group, Colonel Prasop Chai of the Narcotics Suppression Bureau said.

“He is a Wa,” Prasop said, believing Yang belongs to the Wa ethnic minority. “But he won’t tell us who his boss is or who produced the drugs.”

“We’ve interrogated him but he won’t say anything,” Ittiporn said. “We think he’s Wa because the grenades that we confiscated from him were stamped with ‘Made in Wa State’ in Chinese and the drugs have Chinese writing on them as well. The Ice has been sent to the lab to be analysed.”

Office of Narcotics Control Board director Pornthep Eamprapai said Thai police had seized a total of 24 kilogrammes of Ice in the first six months of this year. The amount seized on Saturday nearly matched that amount.

Yang was taken to Klong Prem Central Prison in Bangkok after being charged with possession of illicit drugs for sale and illegal possession of explosive devices.

His trial date has yet to be set, but Prasop said he was likely facing a life sentence.

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