Two Myanmar Men Plotted To Assassinate UN Ambassador For Vocal Junta Condemnation

Two Myanmar citizens have reportedly been arrested in the United States for allegedly plotting to assassinate Myanmar's UN ambassador for his vocal disapproval of the brutal and bloody junta rule in the country.

Phyo Hein Htut, 28, and Ye Hein Zaw, 20, Myanmar citizens currently residing in New York, have reportedly been nabbed for conspiring to assault and attempt a violent attack upon Kyaw Moe Tun, Myanmar’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. They have been charged in two separate complaints and were presented before the U.S. District Court in White Plains presided by U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause on Friday, Aug. 6, according to Al Jazeera.

Tun is a vocal critic of Myanmar's tyrannical military rulers, who seized power in a coup on Feb. 1. He was subsequently fired by the junta after the brutal takeover, but he continues to represent the country's civilian government at the world body.

“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," Audrey Strauss, U.S. Attorney, said.

Htut and Zaw reportedly conspired an attack on Tun, Myanmar’s United Nations ambassador, between July 2021 and Aug. 5, 2021. Htut allegedly communicated with an arms dealer in Thailand who sold weapons to the Burmese military and agreed on a plan to hire attackers to hurt the Ambassador so as to force him to step down from his post, BBC News reported.

After agreeing on the plan, Zaw reportedly transferred approximately US$4,000 to Htut as an advance payment for the alleged plot to attack the Ambassador. In a recorded phone conversation obtained by investigators, Zaw and Htut can be heard further discussing how the attackers would require an additional US$1,000 to conduct the attack on the ambassador in Westchester County and also to “finish off” the envoy, according to the United States Department of Justice.

A volunteer security guard at Myanmar’s UN mission reportedly told the FBI that Htut had told him about his plan “to hire a hitman to kill or injure the ambassador.”

Htut and Zaw are each charged in separate complaints 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.

The investigation into the incident is ongoing and any individuals with relevant information regarding the incident or the suspects are urged to contact the FBI.