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Reuter: SLORC Interrogating Khun Sa



Subject: Reuter: SLORC Interrogating Khun Sa for Some More ...

 SLORC Interrogating Khun Sa for Some More ..

    RANGOON, July 10 (Reuter) - Burma's former opium warlord Khun Sa, who
surrendered at the beginning of the year, is being interrogated about his
past activities, including his foreign connections, a government offical
said on Wednesday.
     Lieutenant-General Kyaw Ba, a member of the ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council (SLORC), told Reuters in an interview it might take up
to a year before the government decided what to do with the man authorities
once promised to hunt down and execute.
     "It all depends on him. What he's going to say, what he's going to
confess," Kyaw Ba said.
     "We are now investigating him and asking him what we want to know
about his different connections in different countries," he said, without
elaborating.
     Khun Sa, who international narcotics officials say was responsible for
approximately half of Burma's annual opium crop of more than 2,000 tonnes,
surrendered to governemnt forces in January with thousands of his
guerrillas.
     The government rejected a request from the United States to extradite
him to face heroin trafficking charges in a U.S. court, saying he would be
dealt with according to Burmese law.
     Kyaw Ba said whether Khun Sa was charged and prosecuted depended on
what information he was willing to divulge, but he hinted the veteran
guerrilla commander might be pardoned.
     "It depends on what he's done and what information he will provide to
us," Kyaw Ba said when asked about possible charges.
     He also said there was a Burmese tradition "to forgive and forget when
you come back into the legal fold."
     Before Khun Sa's surprise surrender, the Rangoon government vowed to
crush his guerrilla army and said he would be caught and hung.
     Kyaw Ba declined to say where Khun Sa was being detained. Former
associates now based on the Thai-Burmese border said Khun Sa was living in
a military guest house in an exclusive Rangoon neighbourhood.
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