Khun Sa is afraid of being spilled into the Bay of Bengal
Sing Tao Daily reported that Khun Sa has been suffering from diabetes in recent years, with heart disease, high blood pressure and paralysis of one hand and foot. His former secretary, Kunsai, said that Khun Sa died at his home in Yangon on 26th. A Burmese official confirmed the news of Khun Sa's death, saying that his body was cremated on the morning of 3th. Colonel Yao Seke, a former ally of Khun Sa and leader of Shan rebels, said on 3th that Khun Sa died at his home in Yangon on October 27th.
Khun Sa, formerly known as Zhang Qifu or Zhang Qifu, was born in Shan State, Myanmar. He was once the biggest drug dealer in the Golden Triangle. It is said that the drugs he produced have trademarks, and the words "beware of counterfeiting" are printed on the packaging of his own "Double Lion Earth Brand".
Khun Sa rose in the 196s, and in the 199s, he developed into the Shan State United Army with nearly 2, people, and made the slogan of Shan State's independence and founding the country, which became a big worry for the Myanmar government. The Golden Triangle area he controlled was the three-no-care zone at the border of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. The Shan State United Army fought against the Burmese government for more than 2 years. By 1996, due to internal division and to avoid being arrested by the United States, Khun Sa voluntarily led nearly 2, subordinates to surrender to the Burmese government. The Burmese government has also made promises, including not sending him to justice and not accepting the extradition request of the United States.
After Khun Sa surrendered, she was placed under house arrest in the Inya Lake area, the highest level in Yangon, and was protected by the army. Her neighbors were former General Niwin of president, the leader of the current military ruling group, Aung San Suu Kyi and the American ambassador. Although Khun Sa lives in seclusion, he still manages a variety of industries, including the Asian Economic Development Bank, transportation companies and a ruby mine with branches in major cities in Myanmar. His subordinates are still engaged in opium production and trade in the Golden Triangle.
Whether Khun Sa is a drug Lord or a national hero is still controversial in the local area. The youth army guerrillas who followed him said that Khun Sa was a real hero. Besides insisting that he would never deal drugs and forbidding his subordinates to eat drugs, he also actively established schools to cultivate young people, foster orphans and make constant efforts for the independence of the Shan people. Khun Sa once told them that "Westerners bullied China people with opium in those days, but today, we still give it back".
Most of the local poppy growers are mountain people, while most of the opium buyers are drug lords from Hong Kong, Britain, the United States and other places. Khun Sa only collects protection fees from these drug-making factories and transportation pipelines, uses the armed forces to assist in transporting drugs and maintaining the safety of the factories, and also acquiesces in some of its men to manufacture drugs privately.
Kun Sai, who has been Khun Sa's external spokesman for ten years, said that no one in the Shan resistance movement would mourn for Khun Sa, who was regarded as a capitulator and traitor. He said that Khun Sa's ashes may be spilled into the Bay of Bengal instead of being transported back to Shan's hometown for burial, because "people are afraid that the grave may be destroyed".
Khun Sa's life legend
Khun Sa was born in 1933 in Dazhai, Nongzhang, Laimo Mountain, Shan State, Myanmar. His mother was from China and his father was from Shan nationality in Myanmar. He has three names, Zhang Qifu in Chinese, Guanyue in Myanmar and Khun Sa in Thailand. Khun Sa's mother died when he was five years old. He was brought up by his grandparents and never studied since he was a child.
in the early 195s, Khun Sa wandered among the remnants of the Kuomintang who fled the Shan Gang, and learned some military common sense and technology. Later, he organized a small drug trafficking arm. In 1962, Khun Sa swore allegiance to the Burmese government. After obtaining legal status, on the one hand, he vigorously developed poppy cultivation in his own control area, set up a card to collect drug transit tax, set up morphine and heroin refineries, and directly produced and sold drugs; On the other hand, he defeated and incorporated small groups of drug traffickers and expanded his power.
In p>1967, Khun Sa drug cartels fought a big war with the drug Lord Luo Xinghan. After winning, he controlled 7% of the drug production and most of the trafficking business in the "Golden Triangle", so he once proudly called himself the "opium king".
In addition, Khun Sa owns land, houses and other industries in Myanmar and Thailand, and entrusts his relatives to run jewelry stores under his pseudonym in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Yefengsong in Thailand. Among his wives, one is said to be a rich woman with a fishing fleet in Mandalay, Myanmar. Khun Sa also sent his children to the United States, Britain and Australia to study.
in the 198s, Khun Sa controlled the 4-kilometer-long Thai-Myanmar border, and the narrow strip in the east of Shan State in Myanmar bordering Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Yefengsong in Thailand became his "independent kingdom". Khun Sa chose Wanxinde Village (also known as "Man Xing Die") as the "capital" of his "kingdom" in Maikai District, Yezhuang County, Chiang Rai, Thailand.
in the golden age of about ten years, he was surrounded by 3, elite soldiers, with 6, troops stationed in Homon, the headquarters, and about 2, armed men from south to north in Shan State under his command. He himself lives in a mansion called "White House" about ten kilometers away from Homon Camp.
Khun Sa pays equal attention to running the army with kindness. He himself is like a white-faced scholar, not fierce. Although I don't know much about literacy, I respect the "scholar". It is said that he is loyal to his companions, affectionate to the Shan people, easy-going to others, and even often asks for help to show his concern, which is quite heroic.
Although Khun Sa was involved in numerous drug trafficking, his subordinates were not allowed to take drugs. He himself had already given up drugs, which set an example and stipulated that anyone who found his subordinates taking drugs could be executed on the spot.
An important reason why Khun Sa can rise in the "Golden Triangle" is that he skillfully used the long-standing ethnic problems and ethnic contradictions in the "Golden Triangle". Khun Sa was trapped by the Burmese government in 1969, and his right-hand man, Zhang Suquan, immediately renamed his drug-trafficking armed forces "Shan Revolutionary Army", claiming to fight for the freedom and independence of Shan compatriots to the end. They made drugs and sold drugs to raise funds for the "revolutionary movement". In this way, Khun Sa suddenly changed from "opium king" to "national hero". Therefore, although Khun Sa was besieged by Burmese government forces, he won the support and praise of anti-government people in Shan State.
In p>1994, Khun Sa publicly announced the establishment of the Shan State Republic, and he became the president. His army is called the Shan Revolutionary Army. With the money from drug trafficking, he constantly updated his weapons and equipment, and its weapons advanced level has always been higher than that of the Burmese government forces.
On January 18th, 1985, almost all Thai newspapers reported that Khun Sa, the "opium king", was bedridden with diabetes for a long time, and died on January 16th in lanshan district, the "Golden Triangle", at the age of 52. His relatives and friends had gone to Xinde Town in northern Thailand to build a cave and build a tomb, preparing for a grand funeral, and Thai police sent special personnel to verify it.
Unexpectedly, nine months later, just as anti-drug agencies around the world were relieved of Khun Sa's death, he reappeared in the "Golden Triangle" and was interviewed by reporters in his new nest in Shan State, claiming that he had given up drug activities and was planning to establish a "Shan State".
In November, 1993, Burmese government forces began to attack the Montai armed forces led by Khun Sa, and successively occupied some strongholds in Khun Sa. At this time, Khun Sa was getting old, and he began to be unwilling to fight.
at the age of p>61, Khun Sa expressed his willingness to surrender to the Myanmar government. He said that he wanted to live in seclusion in the countryside, raise chickens and grow vegetables, and spend the rest of his life quietly. At that time, the United States was hanging red $2 million to arrest him.
In December p>1995, the government forces took a new military action against Khun Sa. On January 5, 1996, the Montaigne armed forces led by Khun Sa began to surrender to the government. By the 18th, 9,749 people had surrendered to the government, and 6,4 light and heavy weapons, including surface-to-air missiles, had been handed over. On the same day, he attended the surrender ceremony held at his headquarters in Hongmeng. Since then, Khun Sa has lived in seclusion in Yangon.