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AP: Generals and Drug Lord



 GENERALS AND DRUG LORD

   By ROBERT HORN
 Associated Press Writer
   RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Burma's generals vowed that if they caught him,
they would hang him. But more than six months after the opium warlord
surrendered to Burma's army the question remains: Where is Khun Sa?
   He's wanted in a U.S. court on 10 counts of heroin and narcotics
trafficking, and he hasn't been seen since Burma's military government took
him into custody and disbanded more than 10,000 of his troops in January.
   But international narcotics agents say his signature product -- cheap
and potent heroin -- is flooding neighborhoods from America to Australia at
record levels.
   When the generals arrested 262 followers of democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi in late May, they drew a barrage of international condemnation. The
political turmoil also shifted the spotlight away from questions about Khun
Sa -- whether the junta plans to make good on its promise to punish him and
why huge quantities of drugs still flow from Burma.
   A slight 61-year-old man with a penchant for military fatigues, Khun Sa
may not have been seen recently, but his name is heard often around
Rangoon. Rumors fly about his whereabouts, doings and dealings.
   The United States has offered $2 million for Khun Sa's capture and has
asked Burma to extradite him to face drug trafficking charges. Burma has
refused, saying he will be dealt with under Burmese law.
   Technically, Khun Sa has been defeated. But he's more of a phantom now
than he was as a criminal at large, when he reigned over the isolated
jungles of Shan State and occasionally gave interviews to reporters who
made the arduous eight-hour mule ride from the Thai border to his
headquarters in Homong.
   Khun Sa claims his rebel army was fighting for the autonomy of his Shan
ethnic minority. American officials say he was one of the biggest drug
traffickers in the Golden Triangle, a mountainous jungle where the borders
of Burma, Thailand and Laos meet. About 60 percent of the heroin in the
United States comes from the region.
   Burma's generals insist that Khun Sa, whose real name is Chiang Chifu,
is in a military security camp in Rangoon being debriefed. There are many
military camps and compounds in the capital, however, which makes it
difficult to pin down his whereabouts.
   One diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Khun Sa is in a
military compound, living with the generals. Some people speculate he's in
the same heavily guarded compound as Gen. Ne Win, the strongman who ruled
Burma for 26 years until stepping down in 1988. Ne Win, 85, has not been
seen in public for years.
   Some reports say Khun Sa suffered a heart attack and is near death from
diabetes. Still others say they've seem him dining at local restaurants,
and he has golfed with the generals.
   To be fair to Burma's generals, they face a dilemma in dealing with Khun
Sa. How can they achieve peace and reconciliation with warring rebels while
not jailing them for the opium trafficking that funded their fight?
   Those sympathetic to the regime say the generals are doing the right
thing with Khun Sa, but look like hypocrites because of previous pledges
never to deal with him.
   Critics accuse the generals, who are desperate for foreign exchange to
fund their military buildup, of laundering Khun Sa's drug money.
   Military officials have denied this charge, but they've granted amnesty
to other major drug traffickers, such as Lo Hsing Han, and helped them
convert their black fortunes into legal businesses. A company belonging to
Lo's son is building a hotel and port in Rangoon.
   Rangoon residents say Khun Sa has his own bus line linking Burma with
Thailand and China, the two principal routes for heroin leaving the
country. They say he has gem mines, clothing shops, restaurants and a share
in a five-star hotel near Suu Kyi's home.
   Few people believe he will be punished.
   "A pardon is a possibility," Col. Kyaw Thein, a senior intelligence
officer, said recently. He justified it on the grounds that Khun Sa has
cooperated completely since his surrender.
   They may also need him to negotiate with thousands of Shan soldiers who
are still fighting in the rugged hills. It is unclear if the rebels alone
are responsible for the large quantities of heroin seeping out of an area
the Burmese army supposedly controls.
   Josef Silverstein, a professor at Rutgers University, in New Jersey, and
a noted author on Burma, predicted that after a show trial Khun Sa will
probably end up as a liaison between the government and the Shan people.
   "Khun Sa is a clever man," Silverstein said. "He's probably two steps
ahead of the people who arrested him."
   
KT
ISBDA