From: Jim Rosenfield <[j n r] at [igc.apc.org]>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs
Subject: Re: News Stories from the Drug War
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 1995 17:24:46 -0800 (PST)

APn  11/23 1657  Burma-Drug Lord

Copyright, 1995. The Associated Press. All rights reserved.  

  HOMONG, Burma (AP) -- Khun Sa, one of the world's most
notorious drug lords, says he's retiring to raise chickens and
row vegetables. 
   The 61-year-old warlord formally tendered his resignation as 
of the Shan ethnic rebel group on Wednesday at his headquarters
in Homong, 50 miles west of the northern Thai town of Mae Hong
Son. 
   Reporters from Thailand attended the minority Shan New Year's
celebrations during which he resigned, and were briefly detained
on their return late Wednesday by Thai authorities. 
   Khun Sa, who is half Chinese and half Shan, resigned after a
year of attacks by the Burmese army, fighting with rival ethnic
groups, splits in his own organization and the U.S.-engineered
arrests in Thailand of some of his top lieutenants. 
   How completely he ceded power is difficult to determine. His
past deeds have not always matched his words. 
   His guerrilla force of more than 10,000 men, called the Mong
Tai Army, professes to be fighting for the cause of Shan
nationalism. 
   But American drug authorities say Khun Sa, also known by the
Chinese name Chang Chifu, is one of the biggest drug traffickers
in the "Golden Triangle," the region near the borders of Burma,
Thailand and Laos. 
   About 60 percent of the heroin that reaches the United States
is believed to come from the area. The United States has issued a
warrant for Khun Sa's arrest on charges of conspiracy to smuggle
heroin. 
   Khun Sa had announced three months ago that he intended to
relinquish leadership of the Shan ruling council to his deputy,
Zao Gun Jade. 
   His decision came after severe splits in the group. Dissident
factions accused him of favoring ethnic Chinese colleagues. His
group has clashed fiercely with the rival Wa ethnic group, which
is also heavily involved in the drug trade. And he has been
facing the biggest Burmese offensive against his army in years,
and has lost some territory to the government. 
   Speaking to reporters in Chinese and Thai, Khun Sa said he had
repeatedly offered to let the United States eradicate the opium
crop, but had been ignored.
   His offers usually have involved selling the entire year's
crop to U.S. authorities, but he has never been taken seriously,
particularly since making such a payment to a rebel group would
cause a diplomatic crisis with the Burmese government. 
   "It's a very political matter," Khun Sa said, adding that it
was difficult for people to deal with him since he had been
demonized as a "big villain." 
   American officials say Khun Sa's drug operations suffered a
serious blow a year ago when 10 men they described as his top
lieutenants were arrested in Thailand. The 10 remain jailed and
are awaiting extradition to the United States.