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Myanmar intelligence unit dismantled |
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Myanmar’s junta has begun the complete dismantling of a Military Intelligence Unit, formerly headed by disgraced Premier Khin Nyunt. Some are being retired while others are being absorbed in other services. About 2000 of an estimated 10 thousand military intelligence members were retired or transferred by the junta, reports say.
The Unit, which was headed for two decades by Mr. Khin Nyunt, had been at the centre of a wide ranging purge following his sacking and arrest in October on corruption charges. The former Premier, who favoured limited dialogue with the detained Opposition leader, Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, was replaced by a junta hardliner, Gen. Soe Win. In October, the junta scrapped the National Intelligence Bureau, the body that gave widespread powers to MI officers. The intelligence wing was believed to control much of the black market and drug money in Mtanmar – the world’s second largest opium producer – and is a bitter rival of hardline Army factions loyal to the junta leadership. Analysts said the Unit had been acting like the mafia and using its elite status to collect substantial unaccountable income.
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