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During a drug raid, authorities in Thailand reportedly discovered assets belonging to the adult children of Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing. The discovery of assets comes amidst a time when the international community has widely condemned the junta for seizing power in a coup in February 2021.
According to a report by Reuters on Wednesday, officials in Thailand found assets belonging to Min Aung Hlaing’s two adult children, Aung Pyae Sone and Khin Thiri Thet Mon, during the raid of a Bangkok apartment of Myanmar tycoon Tun Min Latt.
Tun Min Latt was arrested in September with three other Thai nationals on conspiracy to traffic narcotics and money laundering. Title deeds and bankbooks of Aung Pyae Sone and Khin Thiri Thet Mon were found in the apartment.
According to three sources familiar with the matter, Tun Min Latt is known to be a close associate of the junta leader. The sources said Tun Min Latt acquired supplies for the Myanmar military, and public photos have shown the two together during an arms fair back in 2019.
Tun Min Latt is currently in pre-trial detention, and Min Aung Hlaing’s two children will not be facing legal action over the assets belonging to them as Thai officials did not consider them to be relevant to the investigation.
Aung Pyae Sone and Khin Thiri Thet Mon, like their father, are also sanctioned by the United States and Canada. Washington argued that the two “directly benefited from their father’s position and malign influence.” The discovery of the assets also indicated the ties between the tycoon and the coup leader’s family.
The spokesperson for the activist group, Justice for Myanmar, said the discovery was an indication that Min Aung Hlaing’s family was hiding assets in Thailand.
The spokesperson urged the Thai government to take “urgent action to prevent it from becoming a safe haven for Myanmar war criminals by blocking the illegitimate Myanmar junta and its members from accessing Thai banks and property, and freezing stolen assets that belong to the people of Myanmar.”
The country has been in a state of unrest since Min Aung Hlaing and the military seized power from the elected government in February 2021. Hundreds have been killed and thousands were detained by the military for opposing the coup that ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The series of trials against Suu Kyi ended in December when the junta-backed court convicted the ousted leader on five counts of corruption, sentencing her to seven more years in prison.
