Khun Sa

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Khun Sa (1988)

Chang Shi-Fu alias Khun Sa (Chinese name Chang Shi-fu ; * February 17, 1933 ; † October 26, 2007 in Rangoon ) was a politician, rebel leader and the founder of the Shan United Army and the Muang Tai Army , also Mong Tai Army (MTA) called in Myanmar , the former Burma. From 1982 to 1996 he commanded a strategic territory in the Golden Triangle along the Burmese - Thai border that produced half of the world's heroin supply .

Life

Khun Sa's father was of Chinese descent and his mother came from a noble Shan family. As a child soldier , he fought on the side of the national Chinese Kuomintang in Burma , which was set up by the CIA as the "second front against communism" (CIA codenamed Operation Paper ).

He later founded his own militia, the Shan United Army. In 1963 he subordinated his militia to the Ka Kwe Ye , a program of General Ne Win , the then Prime Minister of Burma, which promoted the formation of local militias to support the military government in the fight against the Shan rebels. Khun Sa received money, weapons and uniforms from the military government. After his unit increased to 800 men, he withdrew its support from the Burmese military, occupied territories in Shan and Wa states, and began producing opium . In 1967 he was involved in fighting with parts of the Kuomintang with his private army. After several defeats, he was arrested by the Burmese military in 1969. After two Russian doctors were taken hostage by his deputy, he was released in 1973. In 1976 he was again active in drug smuggling and drug production in his new headquarters on the Thai-Burmese border in Ban Hin Taek near Mae Salong in the Thai province of Chiang Rai . At the same time, his army led an armed struggle for greater autonomy for the Shan people against the Burmese military government and against the United Wa State Army militias . In 1982 Khun Sa was expelled from Ban Hin Taek by the Thai army. In 1985 he founded the Muang Tai Army with other Shan rebels. He put his new headquarters in the in the mountains north of the Thai province of Mae Hong Son located Homong .

In 1989, Khun Sa was tried in absentia for illegally importing heroin into the US. Khun Sa then offered the US government all of his heroin production for sale. The Shan are dependent on heroin production as this is the only way to finance their fight against the Burmese military dictatorship.

In 1994 the American Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) carried out the so-called "Operation Tiger Trap". On November 27, 1994, followers of Khun Sa were arrested on Thai soil by Thai security organizations and the DEA and their property was confiscated. 13 suspects were later extradited to the United States. After a rebellion within the Mong Tai Army in 1996, Khun Sa had to surrender to the Myanmar military. However, Khun Sa was not extradited to the USA.

Until his death, Khun Sa lived in the former Myanmar capital Yangon . He enjoyed the status of immunity and was officially authorized to invest the money he earned in drug trafficking in civil projects such as road building, teak exports or gemstone mining. He died there on October 26, 2007. The cause of death is unknown. He suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure and was partially paralyzed. He had three daughters and five sons, all of whom had studied abroad.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael Leifer: Dictionary of the modern politics of South-East Asia . London: Routledge 1996. ISBN 0-415-13821-3 . Keyword: "Khun Sa".
  2. ↑ The Irrawaddy: Former Drug Warlord Khun Sa Dies in Rangoon [1]
  3. ↑ Alfred McCoy: The CIA and Heroin. World politics through drug trafficking. Frankfurt, 2016.
  4. ^ Peter Dale Scott : Operation Paper: The United States and Drugs in Thailand and Burma , The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, November 2010
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20050306003837/http://www.dea.gov/major/tigertrap.htm
  6. ^ A product of the jungle , Telepolis
  7. ↑ “Khun Sa, Drug King, Dies at 73” obituary in the New York Times of October 30, 2007 (with the year of birth 1934 )
personal data
SURNAME Khun Sa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chang Shi-fu
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Myanmar politician and rebel leader
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1933
DATE OF DEATH October 26, 2007
Place of death Rangoon