Thailand Deports U.S. Painter, Journalist

BANGKOK, Thailand — Authorities fined and deported an American painter and a New Zealand journalist who were arrested after visiting a Burmese drug warlord, officials said Sunday.

Edith Miranti, 33, a painter and human right activist from Cranford, N.J., and Terrance White, 38, of New Zealand, were each fined $40 and were placed on a plane Saturday to Penang, Malaysia, immigration officials said.

Miranti and White joined a group of Bangkok-based journalists who skirted Thai immigration checkpoints and crossed into Burma in mid-January to interview Khun Sa, the most notorious opium trafficker in Southeast Asia.

The other reporters returned to Thailand immediately, but Miranti and White stayed behind. They were arrested and charged with illegal entry as they crossed back into Thailand last week.