Myanmar junta arrests USDP official for alleged links to online fraud gangs

Myanmar’s military regime has arrested a senior official of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) at the urging of China’s government, sources in Naypyitaw have confirmed. Myint Hlaing, a former central executive member of the military’s proxy party, was taken into custody early Wednesday morning for questioning regarding his alleged involvement with online fraud gangs, the sources said. The arrest is just the latest carried out at China’s behest since late last year, when Chinese officials began pressuring the regime to crack down on illegal activities in areas along the two countries’ shared border controlled by the junta’s ethnic Kokang allies. Since then, an anti-regime ethnic alliance has seized control of the area, vowing to shut down criminal operations run by pro-junta militias. Sources in Naypyitaw told Myanmar Now that the arrest of Myint Hlaing, a retired lieutenant general, followed a meeting between junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and the Chinese foreign ministry’s special envoy for Asian affairs, Deng Xijun, in the regime’s capital on April 1. The junta also arrested Gen. Aung Lin Tun, the deputy minister of defence, in March for suspected involvement in online fraud businesses at China’s request. Myint Hlaing, 71, is known as a staunch supporter of the regime that seized power in a coup in February 2021. He is also an outspoken critic of the ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). In 2010, he was elected to Myanmar’s parliament as the MP for Naypyitaw’s Dekkhinathiri Township. Three years later, as minister for farming and irrigation, he became known as “one-meal Myint Hlaing” for telling farmers they should eat just once a day until they have paid off their government loans. Although he lost his seat to NLD candidates in 2015 and 2020, he has remained an important figure in the USDP. Last year, he was forced to step down from his official position after taking part in a ceremony to hand out bamboo spears to USDP members, but continued to attend important party meetings, sources said. As a former commander of the Northeastern Regional Military Command, based in Lashio, Shan State, Myint Hlaing formed close ties to Kokang leaders such as Bai Suocheng, who was among those targeted for arrest by Chinese authorities last December. A retired army officer who spoke to Myanmar Now on condition of anonymity said that Myint Hlaing was notorious in Naypyitaw for his dealings with crime gangs based in Laukkai, the administrative centre of the Kokang Special Administrative Zone. “He’s quite infamous when it comes to the Laukkai case,” said the former army officer.

Myanmar junta arrests USDP official for alleged links to online fraud gangs

The arrest of former party executive member Myint Hlaing comes as China continues to pressure the regime to rein in criminal activities along the two countries’ shared border

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