Wei threatens to get even with Thai officer

Wei threatens to get even with Thai officer

A source close to the Army told S.H.A.N. that drug-lord Wei Hsiaokang had vowed to avenge the extrajudicial killing of his favorite lieutenant in June leading to the recent raids on his assets in Thailand. 

Thawatchai Saetiao a.k.a. Wangli, 25, was found dead in front of the district office of Fang, 160 km north of Chiangmai, on 20 June. He was shot 7 times and bags of drugs and a gun were placed beside his corpse to show he was a drug smuggler, which he was not, Wei was reported to have claimed. As the killing occurred while he was on his way to an appointment with the district officer, Krisda Boonraj, Wei had held the officer responsible, a fact that led to his abrupt transfer from Fang on 9 December. 

One of the 7 Thai officials abducted in Tachilek, opposite Chiangrai, on 27 July until 3 August, also spoke of the scathing remarks by their captors on Wangli's slaying. The fact was later reiterated by Maj Gen Kyaw Win, second-in-command to Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, on their release. "They (the Wa) said they wanted to convey their grievances with regard to the ill treatment they suffered at the hands of local Thai authorities and to show their displeasure at the foul play suffered by Wan(g) Li," according to AFP report. 

The Burmese have so far refused to acknowledge that Wei exists at all. During the April Regional Border Committee meeting in Kengtung, Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, then Commander of the Third Army, was reported to have inquired about Wei's whereabouts. As his name was spelled differently by the Thais and Burmese, Bangkok officials were told later that the man "with such a name" could not be found anywhere in Burma. 

Wei's Thai citizenship was revoked by the Interior Ministry on 30 July, 3 days after the abduction of Thai military and drug officials. 

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On 26 December, 300 Wa arrived from Mongton, 50 miles north of the boundary with Chiangmai, at Mongtaw-Monghta area in the west. According to the sources, they were there to destroy poppy fields so they could prove they were against drugs. "They have come at the right time," remarked a source, "because this year's crop has already been harvested." 

On 28 December, 1,000-strong Wa troops arrived in Mongtaw-Monghta area. They were heading in the direction of Homong, ex-warlord, Khun Sa's last stronghold before he surrendered in 1996, further west.