Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 16, 1990 TAG: 9003162454
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
It is unlikely, however, that Khun Sa will be brought to trial in the United States in the near future. For years, the Burmese government has been fighting Khun Sa and his thousands of soldiers - to no avail.
The indictment, which was returned by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., last December and made public here Thursday, charged Khun Sa with importing or attempting to import more than 3,500 pounds of heroin into New York between September 1986 and February 1988.
The indictment was kept sealed while the Drug Enforcement Administration "explored every option that we could to determine if it was feasible to apprehend Khun Sa," said DEA spokesman Frank Shults.
There was no clandestine operation attempted, according to DEA operations chief David Westrate.
"We thought that by watching his travel, it might be possible to apprehend him in another country," Shults said. "We explored all those other possibilities, and it was determined that that was not a feasible approach, so the indictment was unsealed now."
DEA Administrator Jack Lawn estimated that up to 45 percent of the heroin consumed in the United States comes from the Burmese section of the Golden Triangle - an area of Southeast Asia where Thailand, Burma and Laos meet. Khun Sa is reputed to control as much as 90 percent of the heroin from Burma.
Thornburgh refused to concede that the effort to bring Khun Sa to trial would be futile. "He may be subject to delivery by his own forces, if someone decides to betray him," said Thornburgh.
"Khun Sa has described himself as `Prince Prosperous,' but as the largest dope pusher in the Golden Triangle, the title of `Prince of Death' for thousands of heroin addicts in the United States might be more apt," Thornburgh said.
by CNB