Myanmar claims war on drugs but protects barons<\/p>\n
By John Sweeney<\/p>\n
RANGOON: It was like the opening scene of the Hollywood film
\nTraffic: Jeeps with smoked glass windscreens, laden with heavily
\narmed soldiers, zoomed through the Myanmarese rain forest,
\nprotecting a very important person.<\/p>\n
The dignitary was not the military junta's anti-drugs tsar but
\nsomeone much more powerful -- Myanmar's godfather of heroin, Lo
\nHsing Han.<\/p>\n
An investigation by The Observer and BBC Radio reveals the
\nmulti-million-pound empire of Lo, the protection he receives from
\nthe Myanmarese junta -- which proclaims it is cracking down on
\nheroin -- and his money-laundering operation in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Lo and his American-educated son, Steven Law, also known as
\nHtun Myint Naing, come and go freely between the island state and
\nMyanmar, running their Asia World combine -- an upmarket front
\nfor one of the world's biggest heroin rackets.<\/p>\n
And business is about to get even better. The decision that
\nopium farming in Afghanistan is \"unIslamic\" has led to a cut in
\nopium growing from 200,000 acres in the two key provinces to just
\n25. That means \"China White\" heroin from Myanmar will move into
\nthe gap made by the drop in supply of \"Afghan Brown\".<\/p>\n
The bad news is that \"China White\" is much more likely to be
\ninjected than \"chased\" (smoked), worsening the public health risk
\nof AIDS and hepatitis.<\/p>\n
The Myanmarese regime, a pariah in the West, trumpets a tough
\nanti-drugs policy. The reality behind the pretense is far uglier.<\/p>\n
Lo's protectors, the Myanmarese generals who run the State
\nPeace and Development Council (popularly known by its former
\ntitle, SLORC), play very rough with anyone who gets in the way of
\nHeroin Inc.<\/p>\n
When Saw Lu, a prince of the Wa people opposed to the heroin
\ntrade, informed the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration about
\nthe drug trafficking activities of a regional army intelligence
\nchief, Maj. Than Aye, word got back to the junta.<\/p>\n
According to a report of the Administration, Saw Lu was held
\nupside down for 56 days with an electric lead attached to his
\npenis. His torturers poured urine on his face; he was beaten with
\nchains; his captors tormented him by throwing him down next to an
\nempty, freshly dug grave.<\/p>\n
Saw Lu's life was spared. Others have not been so lucky. The
\nheroin shipment Saw Lu reported to the DEA was destined for Lo.
\nMaj. Than Aye supervised the torture. For his diligence he was
\npromoted to a high position in SLOCR.<\/p>\n
Lo, who has been identified as a narco-terrorist by the U.S.
\nState Department and spent time on death row in Yangoon in the
\n1970s, before he bought his liberty, lives in lavish style in two
\nhomes, one in the Salween Village and the other in the smartest
\narea in Yangoon close to the 16th tee of the city golf course.<\/p>\n
The Observer\/BBC team took up golf for the day to establish
\nhis precise address: 20-23 Masoeyein Kyang Street, Mayangone,
\nYangoon. The house is all but shielded from view by a high
\nencircling wall and a forbidding steel gate.<\/p>\n
Lo's infamous brand of \"China White\" heroin is industrially
\nproduced in the Mong Hom-Mong Ya valley on the Chinese border,
\nopposite Mangshi. His operational headquarters is the Salween
\nVillage near Nampawng, south of the town of Lashio, a base for
\nfarmers, chemists and gunmen, serviced by local prostitutes and
\nburlesque dancers from Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Lo has made so many millions from heroin that he built and
\nruns Yangoon's main port. Two years ago Australian police seized
\na ship carrying almost half a ton of heroin originating in
\nMyanmar -- a huge find, enough to give every man, woman and child
\nin Australia a hit of heroin. The street price of heroin in
\nSydney did not drop a cent.<\/p>\n
The plainest evidence of the closeness between SLORC and Lo's
\nheroin empire emerged at the 1995 wedding of his son, Steven Law,
\nto Singaporean businesswoman Cecilia Ng.<\/p>\n
Guest of honor was Hotels and Tourism Minister Lt. Gen. Kyaw
\nBa, accompanied by three other SLORC generals and four Cabinet
\nMinisters.<\/p>\n
Law is the managing director of Asia World Company Limited.
\nStarted in 1992, it reports its \"authorized capital\" to be about
\nUS$40 million. It has put an estimated $200 million into
\nconstruction projects around Yangoon. Asia World is running a
\njoint venture with SLORC, building and running the main new port
\nin Yangoon, which handles 90 percent of Myanmar's exports.<\/p>\n
Law is not such an honored guest in the United States. He has
\nbeen declined a visa, due to \"suspicion of involvement in
\nnarcotics trafficking\", according to a State Department official.<\/p>\n
The Asia World racket also runs a supermarket chain, Myanmar's
\nbiggest bus company -- good cover to ship the product -- and a
\nplastic bag factory. To make plastic bags, Lo imports large
\nquantities of acetic anhydride. The other use of acetic anhydride
\nis the manufacture of heroin.<\/p>\n
The millions from Lo's heroin racket are reportedly laundered
\nin Singapore from a plush suite of offices on the 10th floor of
\nShenton House, an office block on Shenton Way, in the heart of
\nSingapore's business district.<\/p>\n
The Singapore company registry lists two companies run by Law,
\nneither of which is called Asia World. But the giveaway is a
\nlarge display sign in the Shenton House front office, depicting a
\nglobe with the letters A and W.<\/p>\n
Law was not there when we visited; staff said he was out of
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
In the past 10 years Singapore has executed at least 100 drug
\ntraffickers for possession of small amounts of heroin, according
\nto Amnesty International. But the island state lets off at least
\none Mr Big, scot-free.<\/p>\n
In the heroin addict ward in Bangkok's biggest hospital, one
\nof the victims of the Myanmarese heroin barons lay on a bed, his
\nskin stretched like paper over his bones, a hideous fungal
\ninfection creeping over his face, suggesting to the doctor that
\nhe was suffering from AIDS.<\/p>\n
You can see heroin addicts like him in every major city in the
\nworld. Different faces, same dead eyes.<\/p>\n
-- Observer News Service<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/myanmar-claims-war-on-drugs-but-protects-barons-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }