Jul 10, 2008 (DVB), An article on the arrest of the well-known business tycoon Maung Weik and six others on drug charges has been published in the Rangoon-based Myanmar Times.

News of the charges had previously been kept out of publications inside Burma.

Maung Weik was charged on 10 June along with his colleagues Aung Min, Nay Htun Lwin, Kyaw Phone Naing, Kyaw Hlaing and Ohn Thee (also known as Kyaw Kyaw Win), and a Malaysian national named Peter Too Huat Haw, who was alleged to have supplied the drugs.

They are accused of using and dealing stimulants such as ecstasy, amphetamines and ketamine and of making others use the substances during office anniversaries and at birthday parties.

The seven have been charged under sections 15, 16 and 21 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, which could each lead to sentences of up to five to ten years. They have also been charged under a new narcotics law brought in this year.

Reporting by DVB