Zaw Zaw Htet Lu, the ammunition smuggler of recent infamy, confessed to the police that he intended to sell the bullets to two militia groups in Muse through an army captain, said an anonymous senior police officer on October 3.

He confessed to his crimes and provided the backstory leading up to his arrest.

Zaw Zaw Htet Lu was working at a car company and he imported vehicles and its spare parts from Myawady.

He then made friends with his cousin’s husband, Captain Nyi Nyi Zaw, who lived in North Dagon Township. They initially got to know each other through an arrangement with Nyi Nyi Zaw on delivering car spare parts for a fee as he needed money to move to Muse from Myawady.

They then bought unlicensed vehicles from Mae Sot and imported the vehicles in whole or spare parts to Yangon. From that venture, he got to know a man named Ko Ti in Mae Sot.

He then become acquainted with Eike Yan from Kaungkhar militia introduced by an unlicensed car trader from Muse in April 2017 and Eike Yan introduced him to Saw Wai from Lonhtan militia. Both militia members said they had difficulties procuring ammunition and wanted to buy 9 mm calibre bullets.

Zaw Zaw Htat Lu then contacted Ko Ti, who in turn said that he could arrange selling the bullets. Zaw Zaw Htat Lu bought 2,000 bullets with Ks4.4 million from Ko Ti in February 2018 and received the ammunition from a person sent by Ko Ti at a unnamed shop in 9-mile.

Zaw Zaw Htat Lu then consulted with Captain Nyi Nyi Zaw and the captain offered to deliver the bullets to Muse for a fee. He then gave the bullets to the captain under the assurance that the Captain would send the goods to Muse.

The captain rang him about five days later and said that the bullets were already sent to Muse. Zaw Zaw Htet Lu gave the captain Ks1.8 million and he received Ks10 million from the militia groups.

“Zaw Zaw Htet Lu went to Myawady in August and met with Ko Ti. He bought 100 bullets for Ks220,000. Those are the ones the police seized from his house in Hlaing Thayar Township,” said the senior police officer.

He continued, “Ko Ti rang Zaw Zaw Htet Lu during the first week of September and set a price of Ks1,010 per bullet. Zaw Zaw Htet Lu then contacted his two militia buyers and took Ks8.7 million in advance from them. After that he came back from Muse and went to Myawady one week later. We learnt that he gave about Ks9.6 million to Ko Ti to buy over 9,500 M16 Rifle bullets. They weren’t able to send the bullets through Myawady-Muse route so they opted for sending them to Yangon before smuggling back to Muse.”

He gave phone number of supplier Ko Ti to Captain Nyi Nyi Zaw and gave Ks800,000 to the captain. He transferred another Ks300,000 to the captain on September 29 for transportation expenses.

The army and police seized the bullets while the captain had left the bullets in the hands of a courier service through a highway express gate in Hlegu Township. The army and police are now on the hunt for the supplier, Ko Ti.

Zaw Zaw Htat Lu had been sentenced 12 years prison term by military court under Section 5 (d)/ 6 in August 2001 as he was found working for “White Scorpion” gang in 1993. He was released from Insein prison under amnesty in June 2012.

A youth brought two unidentified content boxes to a highway express gate in Hlegu Township, Yangon region on September 30 and gave Ks30,000 to a highway bus ticket vendor as delivery fees for the boxes to be sent to Muse. He provided a phone number and later left.

However, the two boxes were found to be too heavy and the passenger bus couldn’t overload the bus, leaving it behind. The ticket seller then tried to contact the youth but no reply was made.

The shop owner ordered his workers to store away the two boxes but they were too heavy. So he got suspicious and told his wife to open up one of the boxes. They found bullets inside it and reported it to the authorities.

The authorities found 3,780 bullets inside a box and 5,724 bullets inside another box and sent to No.1 Ordnance Depot (Intine).

The police lodged a complaint against the unidentified ammunition smuggler under Section 19 (d)/ 19 (f) of weapon act at Hlegu Township police station.

The police were on the hunt for the suspect and later found Zaw Zaw Htet Lu from Hlaing Thayar Township onboard a car near the entrance of Pyay Garden Housing in Sanchaung Township on October 1. The authorities also raided his house and found 100 bullets.

The police lodged a complaint against him under Section 19 (f) of the weapon act at Hlaing Thayar Township police station.