“Godfather” Naw Kham, who has been under “hot pursuit” by the Burmese Army since February 2009, is reportedly felt to be the mastermind of the recent attack on Burmese police boats, while they were returning from visiting a nearby village on the Mekong near the Golden Triangle, according to local sources on the border.

The attack, which took place on February 20, on Pu Zien island between Hsarm Pu and Pahsa villages, Mongphong tract, Tachilek Township, killed 13 Burmese policemen and left two injured. The two are being treated in Tachilek’s Public Hospital, said a source in Tachilek.

Among the 13 were police officer Khin Maung Yin and his deputy Sein Hlaing.

The police were apparently lured into an ambush. As the police boats came downstream, there was an unidentified boat with a man carrying weapons, which appeared in front and headed towards the island. The police followed him to the island where a number of ambushers were lying in wait.

“As soon as, the police arrived on the island, they were mowed down by the attackers who fired from all sides,” he said.

This attack is said to be the bloodiest since the 1967 Opium War between Khun Sa and the former KMT.  

However, different versions have named different culprits.

The Burmese Army believe it was the handiwork of Yawd Serk led Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’, according to a senior Thai army officer. A different version pointed to Lao soldiers as the culprits.

Naw Kham has been hunted by the Burmese Army following the shootings at a Chinese cargo ship on the Mekong on 18 February 2009.

He was a former officer in the late Khun Sa’s Mong Tai Army (MTA) and surrendered with his boss to become a militia leader in Tachilek in 1996. Ten years later, he went underground, following a raid that resulted in seizure of a large amount of arms and drugs. He has since been running a protection racket in the Golden Triangle area, where Burma’s Shan State, Laos and Thailand meet.