FBI exposes plot to maim or assassinate Myanmars UN ambassador
White Plains: Two men from Myanmar have been arrested for conspiring to seriously injure or kill their country’s ambassador to the United Nations, who has openly defied the military junta that seized power in February.
Court documents filed in a New Jersey federal court on Friday detailed a plot to hire the two men, Phyo Hein Htut and Ye Hein Zaw, to tamper with the tyres of ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun’s car to cause an accident in the hopes of ousting him from his post.
And if that failed, US federal prosecutors allege that the men planned to assassinate him.
Myanmar Ambassador to the United Nations Kyaw Moe Tun flashes the three-fingered, a gesture of defiance used by protesters in Myanmar, at the end of his speech to the UN General Assembly in February. Credit:UNTV/AP
Htut and Zaw were charged on Friday with plotting an attack on American soil, US Attorney Audrey Strauss said in a release Friday.
“Time was of the essence when we received information about a threat to Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations,†Jacqueline Maguire, an acting assistant director at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said in a statement. “Our laws apply to everyone in our country, and these men will now face the consequences of allegedly breaking those laws.â€
According to court documents, a Thai arms dealer with links to the Myanmar military hired the pair to carry out the assassination.
Shortly after Myanmar’s military overthrew the country’s civilian government in February, Tun gave a fiery speech to the General Assembly in late February, calling for “the strongest possible action from the international community†to restore democracy.
He then flashed the three-finger salute inspired by the Hunger Games film franchise that has come to symbolise protests against oppression throughout Asia.
Myanmar’s military has tried since to remove Tun from his post, but the 193-member General Assembly is responsible for accrediting diplomats and has not taken action at the military’s urging.
In April, Myanmar’s ambassador to Britain, Kyaw Zwar Minn, was barred from the nation’s London embassy after expressing opposition to the coup.
On Tuesday this week, Tun sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres outlining reports of several massacres he says were perpetrated by the junta.
Tun detailed reports of 40 bodies found in a small village in the nation’s north-west, after men from the region were allegedly rounded up and tortured.
Tun wrote that other men, including an 11-year-old boy were killed and set on fire in another village in late July.
The ambassador told Agence France Presse on Wednesday that his security detail had been reinforced after threats were detected, but calls and emails to Myanmar’s UN Mission after the arrest got no response.
The plot to maim or kill Tun was to be carried out in Westchester County, where the ambassador lives, according to two criminal complaints.
Htut last month was contacted by the arms dealer, who wanted to pay several thousand dollars for Htut to carry out the attack, the complaints said. Htut received a $US2,000 advance on July 23, it added.
After the FBI learned of the plot on Tuesday, it arranged to interview Htut on Wednesday, when Htut described the plan, which included initially tampering with the ambassador’s tires to cause an accident, the complaint said. It said Htut received $US4,000 in payments to carry out the attack and was to be paid another $US1,000 once it was finished.
In a complaint against Zaw, authorities said Zaw admitted after his arrest that he sent the $4,000 to Htut.
Htut, 28, and Zaw, 20, are each charged with conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence upon conviction of five years in prison.
At an initial appearance in White Plains federal court Friday, Htut consented to detention. Zaw awaited an initial appearance.
Messages seeking comment from their lawyers were not immediately returned.
AP
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