Khun Sa cronies out of jail but not out of US

Khun Sa cronies out of jail but not out of US

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Most of the associates of retired warlord Khun Sa who were incarcerated in US jails have served their time and are waiting for deportation back to either Thailand or Burma, according to a source who was a former inmate in one of New York's penitentiaries until two years ago. 

"I know how they must be feeling right now because I had been there myself," said Sai Zing. "But, fortunately for myself, the Thai authorities accepted me without question." 

Chalee Yangwiriyakul, Somwang Oonman, Chang Teh-chai, Li Wei-ming and several others who were arrested in Thailand since 1994 during the joint Thai-American operation, codenamed Tiger Trap, were released this year but still stranded at the US Immigration detention centers. 

"Some of them were trying to contact Khun Sa, Khun Seng (Khun Sa's uncle) and Falang (Khun Sa's former chief of staff), all of whom are in Rangoon (since Khun Sa's surrender in 1996) to vouch for them," he said. 

He conceded that it was better to "do time" in the United State than in Thailand. "For one thing, the prison terms there are milder. For another, they really take your general well-being to heart." 

Chalee, 52, became somewhat a legend among the anti-Rangoon rebel forces, when on 16 April 1973, he entered Taunggyi in army fatigues and took hostage of 2 Russian doctors working there. The result of this adventure was the release of Khun Sa from Mandalay jail, where he had been imprisoned since in 1969.