Burma Battles Drug Lord

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/* Written  2:57 am  Jun 28, 1994 by wov.central@xxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
/* ---------- "Burma Battles Drug Lord" ---------- */
Subject : Burma Battles Drug Lord

   RANGOON, Burma (AP) -- Government forces captured seven hilltop
camps of Burma's top drug lord in a six-week offensive that killed
hundreds on both sides, a military commander said Sunday.
   Brig. Gen. Kyaw Win estimated government casualties at 196 dead
and 357 wounded. At least 250 of Khun Sa's fighters died, he said.
Another senior officer said the drug lord's final toll could be
much higher.
   Khun Sa, who was called the "Prince of Death" by former U.S.
Attorney General Richard Thornburgh, is a known heroin trafficker
who leads a private army. The Burmese government has declared him a
criminal, and he was indicted in 1989 in New York City.
   About 60 percent of U.S. heroin comes from Southeast Asia,
mostly from Burma, the State Department estimates. Burma last year
produced an estimated 2,832 tons of opium, a 13 percent increase
over 1992.
   In the campaign against Khun Sa's forces, government troops
confiscated about six pounds of heroin along with 163 firearms,
rocket launchers, grenades and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
   Gen. Win said some of the dead fighters were found chained to
posts in their trenches. Two captives found alive told government
forces that volunteers for the warlord's army were handcuffed to
prevent them from fleeing.
   The military account could not be independently verified.
   In 1989, Burma adopted the name of Myanmar and changed the the
spelling of its capital from Rangoon to Yangoon. The changes have
not been universally recognized.


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