Article about opium smuggling

Item

derivative filename/jpeg

363-07411 to 363-07413.pdf

Digital Object Identifier

363-07411 to 363-07413

Title

Article about opium smuggling

Description

Keever's title: "Opium Smuggling and and North Vietnamese Fighters are Suspected", Article draft about opium smuggling, for the New York Herald Tribune

AI Usage Disclosure

Draft transcripts were automatically generated via Google Document AI and are currently under review. Please report significant errors to Archives & Special Collections at archives@unl.edu.

Transcript

dope--1 march 15, 1965 SAIGON--North Vietnamese teenager-troops are suspected of being drugged with opium before they initiate their frenzied battalion-sized attacks using “human wave” tactics, reliable military sources reported today. The unofficial, unconfirmed reports were based on evidence that light unmarked aircraft were reportedly dropping opium supplies into Communist-infested areas of South Viet Nam, sources said. These opium supplies are being airdropped or landed on small plantation runways in the Communist-infested mountainous jungles north of Kontum, _[insertion: 250]_ miles north of Saigon, and close to the finger-like Communist infiltration routes called the Ho Chi Minh Trail which runs from North Vietnam through Laos into South Viet Nam. (More) deepe dope--2 The battalion-sized attacks by newly infiltrated units consisting [insertion: mainly] of North Vietnamese-born youth [XXXX indicating deletion] on the Special Forces camp at Kannack last week also increased the suspicions that these youngsters were being drugged before the [deletion: batta] battle. The units of North Vietnamese--which American ground advisors said attacked in “human wave after human wave”--were defeated, leaving [deletion: more than] one hundred dead behind. The reliable military sources said the reports of using [deletion: opiniu] opium or opium derivatives to drug the units have not been confirmed by standard intelligence means, such as capturing a prisoner or seizing an enemy document which [deletion: mentions] provides evidence. The sources said that the nationality of aircraft [deletion: being used to] [XXXX indicating deletion] suspected of being used to drop opium supplies was also unknown. In the past years, French [XXXX indicating deletion] planes were known to be used to drop opium from Laos onto [XXXX indicating deletion] short, dirt runways [deletion: used] on French coffee or tea plantations. However, these [deletion: plantations] landings of opium were much closer to Saigon [deletion: and] This is the first suspected landing of opium in the Kontum area, [deletion: which is] situated in difficult mountain terrain, which makes it difficult to transport to the populous [deletion: areas.] centers. deepe dope--3 Other informed sources [insertion: said] the price of [XXXX indicating deletion] opium has increased by more than [deletion: twenty] thirty per cent in Saigon during the past two months. These sources said that the opium price jumped from 35,000 piastres [XXXX indicating deletion] ( [insertion: US$500] ) per [deletion: kill] kilo to 50,000 ($ [insertion: 700] ) during the past two months. The original explanation given for the increase in price was that more of the [deletion: opium-producing] areas [insertion: growing opium pop] in Laos had slipped under Pathet Lao (Communist) control, [XXXX indicating deletion] The strategic Plaines des Jarres in Laos, the scene of off-and-on battling between American-supported Meo tribesmen and Communist Pathet Lao forces, is the most important opium-producing area in Laos. However, now, some informed sources indicate that opium prices in Saigon [insertion: may] have increased because normal supplies from Laos are being funneled into the Communist-infested areas of South Vietnam. During the French Indo-China War, in which the French colonialists were defeated 11 years ago, the Communist forces launched what the French called la guerre du pavot--”the war for the poppy”--to control the [deletion: opium-producing] areas producing opium, which they used as a source of revenue. -30-

Date

1965, Mar. 15

Subject

Vietnam War, 1961-1975; Opium; Opium trade; Drug traffic; Vietnam (Democratic Republic). Quân đội

Location

Saigon, South Vietnam

Coordinates

10.8231; 106.6311

Size

20 x 26 cm

Container

B4, F10

Format

dispatches

Collection Number

MS 363

Collection Title

Beverly Deepe Keever, Journalism Papers

Creator

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Collector

Keever, Beverly Deepe

Copyright Information

These images are for educational use only. To inquire about usage or publication, please contact Archives & Special Collections.

Publisher

Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries

Language

English