KHUN SA   

  Warlord and Heroin Kingpin

In  

1967,  

Khun  

Sa  

was  

riding  

high.

At  

age  

33,  

the  

charismatic  

Burmese  

warlord  

had  

trafficked

in  

opium  

on  

his  

own  

for  

a  

mere  

three  

years,  

but  

he  

had  

been  

busy  

consolidating  

power,

grabbing  

territory,  

commanding  

an  

army  

of  

about  

2,000  

men,  

and  

garnering  

the  

loyalty  

and

respect of the hill tribes of his native Shan State in Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle region.

Khun   Sa’s   rapid   rise,   however,   put   him   in   conflict   with   the   powerful   Kuomintang   of   China (KMT),   the   remnants   of   the   military   forces   defeated   by   the   Chinese   Communists   under   Mao Tse-Tung.   The   KMT   was   forced   to   flee   to   Burma   (present   day   Myanmar)   in   1949.   The   KMT was   also   heavily   into   drug   trafficking,   and   it   viewed   the   upstart   Khun   Sa   as   a   dangerous rival. What   became   known   as   the   Opium   War   heated   up   when   the   KMT   ambushed   Khun   Sa’s caravan   about   50   miles   outside   Ban   Khwan   on   the   Mekong   River.      Six   bombers   from   the Laotian   air   force   dumped   500-pound   bombs   on   both   the   Khun   Sa   forces   and   the   KMT.   Then General   Rattikone   arrived   on   the   scene   with   his   government   force,   but   to   the   surprise   of   both Khun Sa and the KMT, the general’s forces attacked both sides and took the opium.