Ex-National Guard officer, 8 others held in plot against Laos

[Kadie]

Ex-National Guard officer, 8 others held in plot against Laos
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer

Monday, June 4, 2007

(06-04) 13:53 PDT SACRAMENTO -- Nine California residents, including a retired California National Guard lieutenant colonel and a former Laotian general, were arrested this morning and accused of conspiring to overthrow the government of Laos, court records obtained by The Chronicle show.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives filed a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Sacramento alleging that the men violated the federal Neutrality Act by raising money to buy military equipment including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, machine guns and other high-powered weaponry that was to be used against "both military and civilian officials of Laos."

Those arrested include Harrison Ulrich Jack of Woodland (Yolo County), who owns a consulting business there and is described by the government as a former Army officer who was stationed for a time in Southeast Asia before leaving active duty in 1977. He later served in the California National Guard and retired as a lieutenant colonel, the complaint says.

Also arrested was Vang Pao of Westminster (Orange County), a general under the former Laotian government who came to the United States in 1975. The complaint identifies him as the head of the Neo Hom, a movement opposing the Laotian government.

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"The defendants have issued instructions that the mercenary force is to destroy ... government facilities, to reduce them to rubble, and make them look like the results of the attack upon the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001," the complaint says.

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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/04/BAG8DQ7CO16.DTL