NAYPYIDAW — Police are going above and beyond to find Aung Win Khaing, the suspected conspirator in the assassination of National League for Democracy (NLD) legal adviser U Ko Ni, said chief of police Maj-Gen Zaw Win.
The former Burma Army lieutenant colonel was last seen in administrative capital Naypyidaw last month, according to CCTV records. But since then, he has mysteriously disappeared.
“We’ve combed through all eight townships and villages in Naypyidaw for Aung Win Khaing. We have also distributed his photo [to police and administrators] in other divisions and states,” the police chief told reporters at an annual Home Affairs Ministry press conference in Naypyidaw on Monday.
“We are not just doing police work according to procedure. We will go to the ends of the earth to find him,” the police chief told reporters.
The Burma Police Force has informed fellow Asean countries about Aung Win Khaing, and about half have replied that the fugitive has not entered their countries through legal entrances.
“Aung Win Khaing served as a battalion commander in Thanphyuzayat. He may have contacts at the border. We have distributed his photos to all Asean countries so that we can arrest him whether he is at home or abroad,” said the police chief.
The Burma Police Force has also issued a red notice to INTERPOL to assist in the event that Aung Win Khaing has fled beyond the Asean region.
According to INTERPOL procedures, if a member country asks the international police network for assistance in finding a fugitive, other member countries are obliged to find him and transfer him back to the concerned country, said the police chief.
“Member countries have to reply. If a country spots him but can’t transfer him, it has to inform the concerned country about his hideout and movements. This is the pledge between police forces,” he added.
According to a press release from the President’s Office, Aung Win Khaing, 45, hired gunman Kyi Lin to shoot U Ko Ni, the legal adviser to Burma’s ruling NLD party, outside Rangoon International Airport on Jan. 29.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
