A REWARD of 60 million baht is on offer for global gangsters ''taking a holiday'' on Phuket or holed up in some other Thailand holiday destination.

US special agents with the US Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration blew their cover briefly on Phuket yesterday to talk to the media about their targets: 11 major drug trafficking suspects believed to be in hiding in popular tourist destinations in Thailand.

The move to work with narcotics suppression officers on Phuket became even more unusual when the agents, led by DEA Groug Supervisor David McConnell, revealed the t-shirts, drink coolers, matchbooks and give-away pens they hope will bring the drug barons to justice.

Give-aways are planned in popular tourist hangouts, including Soi Bangla in Patong and elsewhere on Phuket, to encourage tourists to become aware that the couple on the next beach loungers just might be James J. Bulger, aka Whitey, and his girlfriend Catherine E. Greig.

Bulger is ''a mafia crime boss, wanted for murder, narcotics distribution, extortion and money laundering.''

There are those who might say that if he is hiding out on Phuket, he has chosen an appropriate destination. Top of the list, though, so wanted that his image takes pride of place on the t-shirts, is Wei Hsueh-kang, alias Prasit Chivinnitipanya.

If celebrities and world leaders choose Phuket to unwind, it makes sense to expect that drug kingpins can lose themselves here, too.

The DEA team has already visited Chiang Mai and Pattaya before Phuket and a full campaign is to be announced on December 13.