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Date: Thu, 7 Mar 1996 18:41:30 +0000
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Subject: Asian Age: Khun Sa in Burma's Bussiness
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Organization: Forum for Democracy and Human Rights

7th March 1996

KHUN SA IS SETTING UP BUSINESS TO LAUNDER DRUG MONEY

By Sutin Wannabovorn

Bangkok, March 6: Burma=92s notorious opium lord Khun Sa had started a wid=
e 
range of legal businesses in Burma to help launder his drug money, narcoti=
cs and 
former guerrilla sources said on Wednesday.
    Khun Sa surrendered to Burma=92s ruling State Law and Order Restoratio=
n 
Council in January and is said to be living a life of luxury in an exclusi=
ve 
lakefront villa in Rangoon.
    A source close to Khun Sa said his boss had begun setting up legal bus=
inesses 
in Burma that include jade and ruby factories in Rangoon, a Chinese goods 
import business and trading offices in various Burmese towns.
    =93Six Taiwanese experts in ruby and jade design and gem cutters from =
his 
former headquarters  in Ho Mong went to Rangoon to work in the jewellery 
factories, and 10 women workers were also sent there to work,=94 a source =
from 
Khun Sa=92s old guerrilla force, the Mong Tai Army said. He said the jewel=
lery 
factories were planning to buy land in Tachilek, on the Burma-Thai border,=
 to 
build up an import-export trading centre.
    =93Colonel Ho Phing, a former MTA commander, and eight other of Khun S=
a=92s 
trusted men are deployed in Tachilek to look after the business there,=94 =
the 
MTA officer said.
    A Thai intelligence source said Khun Sa had withdrawn about $24 millio=
n 
from various Thai financial institutions recently to invest in Burma.
    =93Khun Sa has transferred million of dollars from Thailand to Burma. =
That 
makes the SLORC very happy because they never care about dirty money and 
where it comes from,=94 the source said.
    Apart from the jewellery business, Khun Sa also had established a trad=
ing 
centre in the Golden Triangle region on the bank of the Mekong river oppos=
ite 
Thailand=92s Chiang Saen district where he plans to import goods from sout=
hern 
China to sell in Burma=92s border towns. Khun Sa had deployed more than 50=
0 of 
his armed guerrillas to another area where he had built a heroin factory o=
n the 
bank of the Mekong river opposite Laos, narcotics sources said.
    =93The heroin and Chinese goods then will come down the Mekong river b=
y the 
same ship and we believe that Chiang Saen will turn to be the major route =
for 
heroin and the centre for the major laundering,=94 a Thai narcotic officer=
 said.
    Khun Sa, 61, is half Shan and half Chinese and was the former commande=
r of 
MTA guerrillas. Throughout nearly two decades as leader of the MTA he 
claimed he was fighting for the independence of the Shan state from Burma.
    But international drug agencies say he used the MTA as his personal ar=
my to 
protect his heroin business.
    In January Khun Sa surrendered his strongholds in Shan state and promi=
sed 
to end his guerrilla war against the government. Khun Sa has been indicted=
 by a 
United States court on heroin trafficking charges. The Americans have urge=
d 
Burma to extradite the drug lord and have offered a $2 million reward for =
his 
return to the US to face charges.  (Reuter)

**end**