No.06 - 01/2005
08 January 2005

Drugs

Khun Sa cronies nabbed

Three of ex-druglord Khun Sa's associates have been arrested by Burmese authorities recently, according to sources on the border.

Jiang Jia-Sao, 70, was taken into custody when a joint-military police party raided his home in Wiang Keow, Tachilek, on 26 December. On the next day, another associate Sai Pan Mawng aka Chen Guantai, 40, was arrested at his home in Markka Hokham, Tachilek. The authorities unearthed a cache of arms and an unspecified amount of drugs at both places, said the sources.

Pan Mawng, a native of Kholam, Namzang Township, has been the leader of a militia force in Tachilek's Paliao area.

The third man to be held was Ma Guowen, leader of Tangyan-based Mongha-Mongheng militia, who was taken into custody after his arrival in Mandalay on 28 December. He was reported to have refused to stop his car when Burmese troops who had set up checkpoints to head off anti-Rangoon Shan State Army (SSA-South) men waved him to pull up.

The reason for their incarceration is yet to be disclosed by the authorities, although locals claim it was because Jiang and Pan Mawng had declined to pay exorbitant kickbacks and Ma had not shown much respect to the regional commander, Maj-Gen Myint Hlaing.

"It couldn't be drugs," said a former officer from Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army, "because Bo Mon (leader of the Tangyan-based Manpang militia, another Khun Sa associate) is the bigger producer and dealer than all of the arrested three put together, but he is still allowed to go free."

Khun Sa, 72, has been living in Rangoon since his surrender in 1996. He is one of Burma's 4 alleged traffickers on United States' wanted list that has offered up to $ 2 million for each suspect. The others are Wei Hsuehkang, Liu Szupo and Khun Hseng (Chang Pingyun).