US charges two in plot to attack Myanmars anti-junta UN envoy
NEW YORK: US prosecutors said on Friday (Aug 6) they had charged two Myanmar citizens in a plot to attack the country's UN ambassador, Kyaw Moe Tun, an outspoken supporter of the democracy movement who has refused military orders to quit.
In an alleged conspiracy foiled by US investigators, the pair spoke of hiring hitmen who would force Kyaw Moe Tun to resign or, if he refused, to kill him, officials said.
The pair "plotted to seriously injure or kill Myanmar's ambassador to the United Nations in a planned attack on a foreign official that was to take place on American soil", said Audrey Strauss, the US attorney for the southern district of New York.
Jacqueline Maguire, the acting assistant director of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, said law enforcement acted "quickly and diligently" after learning of the potential assassination that was planned in Westchester County, a suburban area north of New York City where the ambassador lives.
The bureau received a tipoff on Tuesday, according to court documents.
"Our laws apply to everyone in our country, and these men will now face the consequences of allegedly breaking those laws," Maguire said in a statement.
Suspects Phyo Hein Htut, 28, and Ye Hein Zaw, 20, were being charged in a federal court in Westchester on counts for which they could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.
DEALER TIED TO MILITARY GOVERNMENTIt remained unclear what, if any, connection the suspects had with the military government, which on Feb 1 overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Prosecutors said Phyo Hein Htut had been in touch with an arms dealer in Thailand who had dealings with the military in Myanmar. The two conversed by the video chat service FaceTime, while Phyo Hein Htut was inside Myanmar's UN mission in New York, a criminal complaint said.
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