On Lo Hsing-han:

[shan@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

23 July 1999 

Dear All 

Thanks to Mr. Mc Cracken, I stand corrected. Lo, though generally believed to
be still involved in the drug trade, is not on the wanted list. Those that
have
been declared on the wanted list are: 

1. Wei Hsueh-kang 
2. Liu Szu-po 
3. Chang Chi-fu a.k.a Khun Sa 
4. Yang Wang-hcuan a.k.a Lao Tai a.k.a Tin Maung Win 
5. Chang Ping-yun a.k.a Khun Seng 

N.B. Lin Ming-xien is also not on the wanted list. He was reported in April to
have said, "I could have further enriched myself by following the way of the
Was (who promised to stop dealing the drugs after 2005). Now, if there are no
foreign tourists in Mongla (where his headquarters is), I'll be in a bad way".
He declared his area a drug free zone some years ago. 

S.H.A.N. 

----------
22 July 1999

Heavy Security For Lo Hsing-han 
Is he a State Minister now? 

S.H.A.N. source from northern Shan State reported on 18 July that Lo Hsing-han
had been accorded the same high level of security for state ministers and
regional commanders during his trip from Lashio to Mandalay. 

On 14 July, many people who saw a heavily guarded motor cade, made up of 7 - 8
trucks, on the way from Lashio, the capital of northern Shan State, to
Mandalay, the capital of northern Burma, with the forefront 4-wheeler flashing
its redlight and blaring its siren, thought there must be either some SPDC
minister or a regional commander in it. But riding in the second Toyota Land
Cruiser, Prado Model, in the middle of the procession they noticed was none
other than Lo Hsing-han, the man known as the first drug kingpin. All the cars
in front and his rear were ridden by heavily armed SPDC soldier. 

One knowing person said heavy security was granted to him after receiving a
note from Yawdserk, Commander of the Shan States Army, demanding from his
firm,
the Asia World Company, payment of tax in early May. 

Tollgates along the Lashio - Hsenwi road that his company built were also
transformed into thick bunkers, after news of Yawdserk's expansion from the
south in June spread far and wide. 

S.H.A.N. source from the east from also reported in April that Lo was given a
special tight security by MI 22 in Kengtung after his return from Pangsang in
the Wa territory, where the 10th anniversary of the successful Wa mutiny

against the Communist Party of Burma's leadership took place. 

Some rejected that the VIP treatment had anything to do with Yawdserk. "The
same treatment is also given to Khun Sa, Wei Hsiaokang, Khun Seng and Lin
Mingxien (Sai Lin)", said the source. Those he named are all on the wanted
list
issued by the United States. 

"All of them are accorded the same privilege as that of state ministers", he
added. 

/// END \\\ 
For further information, please contact S.H.A.N. at: 
Shan Herald Agency for News. 
P.O. Box. 15 
Nonghoi P.O., 50007 
Chiangmai 
Thailand 
Ph/Fax: (053) 807 121 
e-mail: <shan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>