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US Offer Cash Reward to Nab Burma Drug Lord
by Carole Landry
The Asian Age
5 June 1998
 
Washington, June 3: The United States offered rewards of up to $2 million
on Wednesday foe information leading to the arrest of five drug kingpins
believed to be in Burma.
 
Topping the list was notorious drug lord Khun Sa, born Chang Chi Fu, who
was the former head of the Shan United Army in Burma, controlled most of
southeast Asia's narcotics trade, the state department said.
 
Khun Sa is believed to be residing in a military safe house in Rangoon
under a terms of a 1996 amnesty deal reached with the government of Burma.
 
He is wanted by US authorities on charges of conspiracy, importation of
and possession of with intent to distribute heroin in the United States.
 
The state department also listed Khun Sa associates Chang Ping-Yun, known
as Khun Sa Eng, Wei Hsueh-Kang, alias Prasit Chivinnitipanya, Yang
Wan-Hsuan (Lao Tai) and Liu Szu-Po, alsp known as Kamrat Namsuwakhon or
Lamdap Namsuwakhon as major narcotics traffickers for whom rewards were
being offered.
 
All men are wanted in New York for violation of Federal drug laws. Chang,
a former senior member of SUA command, is believed to be residing in a
military safe house in Burma, possibly in Rangoon, under the protection
and watch of the Burmese government, according to US officials.
 
"As such, he has detailed knowledge of the inner working of the SUA
narcotics trafficking organization as well as Chang Chi Fu's financial
activities and investments," said a state department statement, although
there was no information on his whereabouts.
 
Liu, a Thai national, was Khun Sa's main heroin distributor and currently
operates several heroin refineries along the Thai-Burma border, north of
Chiang Rai province, according to US officials.
 
He has been in hiding in Mong Kan, Shen Pi and Wan Chang in Burma but was
also seen in Thailand at Ban Hin Taek where he maintains a large
residence, they said.
 
Chinese national Wei Hsueh-Kang is the only one of the five who is not
directly linked to Khun Sa's cartel.
 
Wei, believed to be hiding in Burma, heads the southern military command
of the United Wa State Army, which is currently the dominant heroin
trafficking group in southeast Asia, possibly worldwide, the state
department said.
 
The announcement of the large rewards for the drug kingpins came after the
United Nations dispatched its top drug-fighting official to Rangoon last
month for talks on eradicating opium and heroin production in Burma.
 
The United States has long complained that authorities in Burma, the
world's largest source of illicit opium and heroin, have failed to wage an
effective campaign to curb drug production.
 
The production of opium and heroin has declined in Burma from 1997 to 1996
levels, but officials here say it is still at relatively high levels,
"enough to satisfy the US heroin market many times over," according to the
last state department report on narcotic control.
 
Burma has been on the state department's list of countries that have
failed to cooperate with the United States in the war on drugs- a
designation that prevents Rangoon from receiving economic aid. (AFP)

Burma Info (CCN)
New Delhi