Thailand’s Criminal Court on Tuesday acquitted a Myanmar junta-linked arms dealer and four others of drug trafficking and money laundering, saying there was insufficient evidence for the charges.
The court said the evidence gathered by police was insufficient to prove wrongdoing, The Bangkok Post reported.
Arms dealer Tun Min Latt, 54, a Myanmar national, was arrested along with three Thai nationals by the Royal Thai Police in Bangkok in September 2022 on suspicion of trafficking drugs and money laundering. Over 200 million baht (US$5.4 million) worth of drugs and other items were confiscated from them during the raid.
Among the three Thais arrested was Dean Young Gultula, a son-in-law of a Thai Senator Upakit Pachariyangkun, who is Tun Min Latt’s business partner.
The raid led to an arrest warrant being issued for the senator but the warrant was quickly withdrawn, OCCRP and Prachathai reported.
Tun Min Latt runs the Star Sapphire Group of Companies, which brokered imports of Israeli reconnaissance drones and aircraft parts for the Myanmar Air Force, which has been committing war crimes in Myanmar by launching airstrikes against civilians since 2021.
Star Sapphire Group is a partner of Myanmar military-owned business conglomerates Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL) and Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) in numerous ventures. The United Kingdom sanctioned Star Sapphire Group in August 2022 and the US followed suit in 2023.
Tun Min Latt’s links with Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing’s family were revealed when Thai police discovered bankbooks and the title document of a luxury condominium owned by the adult children of the regime boss among items confiscated during the September 2022 raid in Bangkok. Police found the title document of a four-bedroom condo worth nearly $1 million in the Belle Rama 9 complex belonging to Min Aung Hlaing’s son Aung Pyae Sone, as well as two Siam Commercial Bank passbooks belonging to Khin Thiri Thet Mon, Min Aung Hlaing’s daughter.
Tun Min Latt, Dean and their co-accused—the Myanmar Allure Group company and two Thai women—were facing a total of 32 charges, including drug trafficking, money laundering and involvement in a transnational criminal organization.
Myanmar Allure Group was founded by Upakit and Tun Min Latt in 2000 to operate an illegal casino business in Tachileik in Myanmar’s Shan State, across the border from Mae Sai in Thailand’s Chiang Rai province.
The group allegedly laundered money from the sale of drugs by purchasing electricity from the Provincial Electricity Authority in Chiang Rai province, which was resold to buyers in neighboring Myanmar.
The senator has repeatedly denied allegations linking him to the crimes of which Tun Min Latt was accused. But prosecutors decided in December to indict him after a lengthy investigation.
