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WHY ARE THEY STILL AT LARGE?:



14 September 1999 

Drugs 
Book Review 

The Underground Empire By James Mills, 1986. 

WHY ARE THEY STILL AT LARGE? 

The first thing the author says is that everything written in the book are
facts and not fabrications. 

According to him, Khun Sa was merely "a king" just one among many others like
him. But what the world didn't know was the fact that there were "Kings of
Kings", four of them all. 

One of them was Lu Hsu-shui (Thai name: Vichien Wachirakaphan) who lived in
Bangkok's Chinatown, Yaowarat. He was born on 8 October, 1926 in Taoyang
Village, Swatow, known as China's Sicily, son of a street vendor and charwoman.


He started work as an errand boy for his brother's gold shop in Bangkok, and
ended owning two of Bangkok companies that traded in gold. 

Ingots with cock and dragon stamp were said to be personally cast. He also
owned 60% of the luxurious Chiang Inn Hotel in Chiangmai. In 1977, he bought
the Shaw Hotel in San Francisco and others, "buying up America", Mills' source
said. 

His sons attended universities in the States. One of them is Lu Wen-choa a.k.a
Somboon Wachirakaphan, an Indiana State graduate. Another son, Somsak, lived in
101 Palisades Drive, San Francisco. 

The author gives directions where his gold shop, Lang Hong, can be found. It is
on Yaowarat Road at the Mangkorn intersection. At the corner between a toy shop
and a money changer is his shop. 

Khun Sa is just his 'ultimate supplier', writes the author. 

Lu's involvement was known by the law enforcement officers well. One of them
was Viraj Juttimitta, known as "the only honest Thai cop" then. The author says
"Thai people think a cop is a dog, the worst animal there is. They take bribes
and they don't give them justice". 

However, Lu was untouchable, Mills says. For one thing, he was a recipient of
the White Elephant Order from His Majesty the King for "his kindness and
altruism". 

The author also names two other "Kings of Kings", Sukree Sukreepirom and
Poonsiri Chanyasak, both of whom were in Laos. The latter was known as
"Minister of Heroin". He managed the Rasita Imports in Vientianne. 

Co-incidentally, Lu's wife is Poonsiri's cousin. "For the Chinese, kinship is
everything", the author was told. 

His two other cousins, Phongsoon Dejanu and Vichit Kitkeatlers, all Chinese
with Thai names and passports, were in the States. The latter handled
distribution in the US. 

The author says Lu couldn't be touched by the law easily because he had
intelligence ties to at least three nations and one of them inevitably was the
CIA. 

In fact, the drug war cannot win because of innate dispute between the CIA and
the DEA, says the author, who concludes: 

"Trafficking proceeds with the support of the government which makes the
government a trafficker. And without the tacit knowledge of the United States,
things like that would either not happen or would happen to a much lesser
degree, which makes the US government a co-conspirator. 

In short, without the indulgence of the US government, the Underground Empire
could not exist". 

/// END \\\ 
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