Myanmar strongman’s kids’ assets found in Bangkok drugs raid

Assets belonging to the children of Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing have been found in a Bangkok condominium. Documents were discovered during a September raid on the apartment of a Myanmar arms dealer charged with drug trafficking and money laundering.

According to Bangkok Post, the assets found in Bangkok at the home of Tun Min Latt when he was arrested last September, belonged to adult children of Myanmar’s junta leader. Tun was arrested along with three Thai nationals on narcotics and money laundering charges.

Tun has interests in hotels, energy and mining, and is a close associate of Min Aung Hlaing, who seized power in February 2021. According to Bangkok Post, he has procured supplies for the military.

Min Aung Hlaing’s two children are to face no legal action over the assets. Authorities do not consider them relevant to the investigation against Tun Min Latt. Based on the seizure records, Justice for Myanmar (JFM), a covert activist group tracking the junta’s businesses, said that among the items confiscated from the arms broker were the title deeds to a four-bedroom condo belonging to Min Aung Hlaing’s son Aung Pyae Sone, worth nearly US$1 million (33 million baht). Two Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) bank books in the name of Khin Thiri Thet Mon were also found.

Aung Pyae Sone and Min Aung Hlaing’s daughter, Khin Thiri Thet Mon, has been previously sanctioned by the United States and Canada and could not be reached for comment.

Justice for Myanmar 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.”

Since the coup, Min Aung Hlaing’s forces launched a bloody crackdown on dissent, killing thousands of opponents, according to the United Nations, which accuses Myanmar’s troops of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The military says it is waging a war on “terrorists.”

Thailand shares a land border of more than 2,000 kilometres with Myanmar and has refrained from overt criticism of the junta.

Last month, Bangkok invited junta ministers to attend a regional summit, which was boycotted by several nations because of their presence.