Vang Pao arrested

[BKKanalist]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=119229

 

former Laotian military general, Vang Pao was arrested in California on Monday as the alleged mastermind of a violent plot to overthrow the Lao communist government with arms and equipment that were ready to be shipped to Thailand next week.

 

(BangkokPost.com, agencies) -

 

The indictments handed down in Sacramento culminated a six-month investigation that included meetings between undercover agents and the alleged conspirators to discuss transferring weapons to Thailand and Laos.

 

US prosecutors allege that Vang Pao was the mastermind behind the plot. Eight others were also arrested and charged; authorities believe there will be more arrests.

 

"We're looking at conspiracy to murder thousands and thousands of people at one time," Assistant US Attorney Bob Twiss said in federal court Monday.

 

All nine are charged with violating the federal Neutrality Act and face the possibility of life in prison.

 

"No matter how strongly held their beliefs, citizens of the United States cannot become involved in a plot to overthrow a sovereign government with which the United States is at peace," Drew Parenti, FBI special agent in charge of the Sacramento region said during a news conference following the defendants' initial court appearance.

 

The Associated Press says the case "reads like it was taken from the pages of a spy novel."

 

Since January, the Hmong leaders and Jack inspected shipments of military equipment that were to be purchased and shipped to Thailand. Shipments were scheduled for June 12 and 19, the complaint alleged. That equipment included hundreds of machine guns, ammunition, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, anti-tank rockets, Stinger shoulder-fired missiles, mines and C-4 explosives.

 

During a news conference after the defendants' court appearance, prosecutors displayed photographs of the weapons involved in the alleged plot. They showed a light anti-tank rocket system, a Stinger missile, Claymore mines and an AK-47 assault rifle.

 

The defendants also attempted to recruit a mercenary force that included former members of the Army Special Forces or Navy SEALs, prosecutors allege.

 

The planning was disrupted after a six-month investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

 

The criminal complaint said Vang Pao and the other Hmong defendants plotted an insurgent campaign to overthrow the Laotian government "by violent means, including murder, assaults on both military and civilian officials of Laos and destruction of buildings and property."

 

The defendants acted through the Lao liberation movement known as Neo Hom, led in the US by Vang Pao. It conducted extensive fundraising, directed surveillance operations and organized a force of insurgent troops within Laos, according to the complaint.

 

Also charged was former California National Guard Lt. Col. Harrison Ulrich Jack, a 1968 West Point graduate who was involved in covert operations during the Vietnam War. Jack acted as an arms broker and organizer of the plot, according to a criminal complaint filed in US District Court.

 

Vang Pao, now 77, led CIA-backed Hmong forces in Laos in the 1960s and 1970s as a general in the Royal Army of Laos. He immigrated to the US in 1975 and has been credited by thousands of Hmong refugees with helping them build new lives in the US.

 

Since then, however, he also has been plotting to overthrow the Laotian government, according to the federal complaint.

 

Seven others, all prominent members of the Hmong community from California's Central Valley, also were charged Monday in federal court. The criminal complaint identified them as:

 

- Lo Cha Thao of Clovis, a suburb of Fresno

 

- Lo Thao of Sacramento County, who is president of United Hmong International, which the complaint says also is known as the Supreme Council of the Hmong 18 Clans

 

- Youa True Vang of Fresno, founder of Fresno's Hmong International New Year

 

- Hue Vang, a former Clovis police officer

 

- Chong Yang Thao, a Fresno chiropractor

 

- Seng Vue of Fresno

 

- Chue Lo of Stockton, both of whom are clan representatives in United Hmong International

[Flashermac]

<< "No matter how strongly held their beliefs, citizens of the United States cannot become involved in a plot to overthrow a sovereign government with which the United States is at peace," >>

 

So somebody go arrest GW Bush!

 

 

 

[Sukhumvit]

Talk about Kismet. Just finished reading The Ravens last night. Fascinating book. (Incidentally there's a little restaurant on Soi 23 between Cowboy and Sukhumvit, which has a few tanks of fish/crabs out front. In the back they've got a flag on the wall which looks like the old Lao flag prior to the commies taking over. Lots of other stuff on the walls such as crossbows, old rifles etc.)

[elef]

What about Cuba and Venezuela?

[Fidel]

Having lived in Laos for a little while, I feel it's a pity these guys didn't succeed.

[Fidel]

Having said that, I fear that this will only compound the oppression of the Hmong by the Lao government, and heighten the paranoia of the party.

[Flashermac]

Nobody I talked to in Laos seemed to have any use for the government. Wonder if the PDR would find many willing to fight for it.

 

p.s. Hanoi probably would send its army in to clean out any threat to the commies in Laos. Maybe somebody in Washington had enough sense to realise that.

 

 

[Julian2]

Their power base seems to be in the country, most of the army is recruited there and it's a "them against us" type thing. The people in Vientiane would get rid of the govt tomorrow.

[Flashermac]

Vang Pao group plead innocent

 

 

Sacramento, California (Agencies) - Ten people charged in an alleged plot to overthrow the communist government of Laos pleaded not guilty Monday to conspiracy charges that could bring them life in prison.

 

The brief proceeding in U.S. District Court followed a grand jury indictment last week against Vang Pao, a 77-year-old former general in the Royal Laotian Army, and nine other members of California's large Hmong community.

 

Also charged was Harrison Jack, a 60-year-old former Army Ranger who led covert operations and worked with Hmong fighters during the Vietnam War.

 

One of the alleged conspirators, 48-year-old Dang Vang of Fresno, was arraigned on Friday and also pleaded not guilty. He did not appear in court on Monday with the others.

 

The charges continue to reverberate throughout the Hmong community, which is concentrated in California's Central Valley and includes thousands who fled following the 1975 takeover of Laos by the communists.

 

On Monday, an orderly crowd of 1,200 to 1,500 demonstrated outside the federal courthouse in Sacramento and the state Capitol. Many Hmong said they feel betrayed that the U.S. government has not done anything to stop the persecution of Hmong in Laos and now is turning on their leaders in the United States.

 

"This is a long story that has to be told from the beginning," attorney William Portanova, who represents defendant Lo Thao, 53, of Sacramento, said outside the courthouse. "And the beginning is not in January '07. The beginning is in 1951. That's where we're starting. And when the story's told, they're not guilty."

 

In addition to Jack, Vang Pao and Lo Thao, the others arraigned Monday were: Lo Cha Thao, 34, of Clovis; Youa True Vang, 60, of Sanger; Hue Vang, 39, of Fresno; Chong Yang Thao, 53, of Fresno; Seng Vue, 68, of Fresno; Chue Lo, 59, of Stockton; and Nhia Kao Vang, 48, of Rancho Cordova.

 

Judges have refused to set bail during previous hearings, saying each defendant could be a flight risk or pose a danger to society.

 

Attorney Shari Rusk argued that her client, Chue Lo, should be released because he simply attended two meetings as a clan leader.

 

She acknowledged that weapons were displayed at one of those meetings, but said Vang Pao is so influential that her client had no choice but to attend.

 

"It's beyond 'If the president of the United States asked you to go, would you go,'" Rusk told Magistrate Dale Drozd. "It's not even a decision. There's no question about it."

 

Drozd postponed a decision on whether Rusk's client could be released.

 

The indictment alleges that Chue Lo was among those present during a Feb. 7 meeting at a Thai restaurant in downtown Sacramento. The alleged conspirators were meeting with a person they believed was a weapons broker, but who actually was an undercover federal fink.

 

After leaving the restaurant, they examined a truckload of weapons that contained samples of AK-47s, M-16s, C-4 explosives, anti-tank rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and Claymore mines, according to the indictment.

 

The 10 defendants who appeared in court Monday were previously charged under federal complaints, which were replaced with the federal grand jury indictment that was issued Thursday.

 

All 11 are charged with conspiring to violate the Neutrality Act against a nation with which the United States is at peace; conspiracy to kill, kidnap and maim; conspiracy to possess firearms and destructive devices; and conspiracy to export munitions without a State Department license.

 

Federal prosecutors say the defendants intended to buy nearly $10 million worth of weapons. All except Seng Vue and Chue Lo also were charged with conspiracy to receive and possess Stinger missile systems designed to destroy an aircraft.

 

Earlier this year, Jack, a former California National Guard officer, sent an email to friends suggesting the Lao government was planning mass killings of the Hmong remaining in the country. That apparently was the genesis of the alleged overthrow plot.

 

Many Hmong have fled to Thailand, where they live in refugee camps. Those who came to the United States are concentrated in California, Minnesota and Wisconsin.