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Myanmar duo arrested in New York over plot to kill UN ambassador
Also: Two Myanmar Citizens Arrested In Plot To Injure Or Kill Myanmar’s Ambassador To The United Nations (U.S. Attorney's Office - Southern District of New York)
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Source: The Guardian and agencies
Myanmar duo arrested in New York over plot to kill UN ambassador
Pair charged with conspiracy ‘to assault and make a violent attack’ on Myanmar’s UN envoy, Kyaw Moe Tun
Staff and agencies in New York
Fri 6 Aug 2021 20.49 BST
Two Myanmar citizens have been arrested in New York state for plotting with an arms dealer in Thailand – who sells weapons to the Burmese military – to kill or injure Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations.
The US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York said on Friday that Phyo Hein Htut, 28, and Ye Hein Zaw, 20, had each been charged with one count of conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who represents Myanmar’s elected civilian government which was overthrown by the military in February, told Reuters on Wednesday that a threat had been made against him and US authorities had stepped up his security.
The ambassador did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the charges. Myanmar’s junta fired him in February, after he appealed for the international community “to use any means necessary” to take action against the Myanmar military which seized power from civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
-snip-
Pair charged with conspiracy ‘to assault and make a violent attack’ on Myanmar’s UN envoy, Kyaw Moe Tun
Staff and agencies in New York
Fri 6 Aug 2021 20.49 BST
Two Myanmar citizens have been arrested in New York state for plotting with an arms dealer in Thailand – who sells weapons to the Burmese military – to kill or injure Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations.
The US attorney’s office for the southern district of New York said on Friday that Phyo Hein Htut, 28, and Ye Hein Zaw, 20, had each been charged with one count of conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun, who represents Myanmar’s elected civilian government which was overthrown by the military in February, told Reuters on Wednesday that a threat had been made against him and US authorities had stepped up his security.
The ambassador did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the charges. Myanmar’s junta fired him in February, after he appealed for the international community “to use any means necessary” to take action against the Myanmar military which seized power from civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/06/myanmar-arrests-plot-ambassador-united-nations-kyaw-moe-tun
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Source: U.S. Attorney's Office - Southern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, August 6, 2021
Two Myanmar Citizens Arrested In Plot To Injure Or Kill Myanmar’s Ambassador To The United Nations
Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jacqueline Maguire, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Dermot Shea, Police Commissioner of the City of New York (“NYPD”), announced the arrests of PHYO HEIN HTUT and YE HEIN ZAW for conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. HTUT and ZAW were charged in two separate complaints and will be presented later today in the U.S. District Court in White Plains before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, Phyo Hein Htut and Ye Hein Zaw 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. We commend the tireless work of our law enforcement partners at all levels of government to ensure the safety of foreign diplomats and officials.”
FBI Acting Assistant Director Jacqueline Maguire said: “Time was of the essence when we received information about a threat to Myanmar’s Ambassador to the United Nations. I would like to thank our Westchester Safe Streets Task Force and each of our partner law enforcement agencies that worked quickly and diligently to track down the men allegedly hired in this plot to harm and potentially kill a foreign diplomat on U.S. soil. Our laws apply to everyone in our country, and these men will now face the consequences of allegedly breaking those laws.”
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said: “As alleged in today’s federal charges, these defendants reached across borders and oceans in designing a violent plot against an international leader on United States soil. But our NYPD investigators and prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York worked relentlessly with our law enforcement partners to bring them to justice before any harm could be done.”
According to the allegations in the two Complaints filed today[1]:
Between at least in or about July 2021 through at least on or about August 5, 2021, HTUT and ZAW, citizens of Myanmar currently residing in New York, conspired to injure or kill Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (the “Ambassador”). During the conspiracy, HTUT communicated with an arms dealer in Thailand (the “Arms Dealer”) who sells weapons to the Burmese military, which overthrew Myanmar’s civilian government in or about February 2021. In the course of those conversations, HTUT and the Arms Dealer agreed on a plan in which HTUT would hire attackers to hurt the Ambassador in an attempt to force the Ambassador to step down from his post. If the Ambassador did not step down, then the Arms Dealer proposed that the attackers hired by HTUT would kill the Ambassador.
-snip-
Friday, August 6, 2021
Two Myanmar Citizens Arrested In Plot To Injure Or Kill Myanmar’s Ambassador To The United Nations
Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jacqueline Maguire, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), and Dermot Shea, Police Commissioner of the City of New York (“NYPD”), announced the arrests of PHYO HEIN HTUT and YE HEIN ZAW for conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. HTUT and ZAW were charged in two separate complaints and will be presented later today in the U.S. District Court in White Plains before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause.
U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said: “As alleged, Phyo Hein Htut and Ye Hein Zaw 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. We commend the tireless work of our law enforcement partners at all levels of government to ensure the safety of foreign diplomats and officials.”
FBI Acting Assistant Director Jacqueline Maguire said: “Time was of the essence when we received information about a threat to Myanmar’s Ambassador to the United Nations. I would like to thank our Westchester Safe Streets Task Force and each of our partner law enforcement agencies that worked quickly and diligently to track down the men allegedly hired in this plot to harm and potentially kill a foreign diplomat on U.S. soil. Our laws apply to everyone in our country, and these men will now face the consequences of allegedly breaking those laws.”
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said: “As alleged in today’s federal charges, these defendants reached across borders and oceans in designing a violent plot against an international leader on United States soil. But our NYPD investigators and prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York worked relentlessly with our law enforcement partners to bring them to justice before any harm could be done.”
According to the allegations in the two Complaints filed today[1]:
Between at least in or about July 2021 through at least on or about August 5, 2021, HTUT and ZAW, citizens of Myanmar currently residing in New York, conspired to injure or kill Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (the “Ambassador”). During the conspiracy, HTUT communicated with an arms dealer in Thailand (the “Arms Dealer”) who sells weapons to the Burmese military, which overthrew Myanmar’s civilian government in or about February 2021. In the course of those conversations, HTUT and the Arms Dealer agreed on a plan in which HTUT would hire attackers to hurt the Ambassador in an attempt to force the Ambassador to step down from his post. If the Ambassador did not step down, then the Arms Dealer proposed that the attackers hired by HTUT would kill the Ambassador.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/two-myanmar-citizens-arrested-plot-injure-or-kill-myanmar-s-ambassador-united-nations