The Death of Lo Hsing Han: Burma’s Heroin Godfather

Prior to his death, Lo Hsing Han was one of Myanmar’s premier business personalities, with wealth so vast that it is difficult to estimate its true extent. Lo Hsing Han’s Asia World conglomerate’s business transactions often surpassed those of the actual economy of Myanmar itself. The problem with Lo Hsing Han’s wealth, and his rise to the top, is the product he sold: the finest grade, ‘China white’ heroin.

It was to this heroin that many American soldiers stationed in Vietnam became addicted in the 1960s and 1970s.

Though his beginnings were humble, Lo Hsing Han was adept at siding with the right factions during Burma’s turbulent history and transition from monarchy to military-led rule. Intermittently siding with government or rebel factions, Lo Hsing Han’s knack for being resourceful aided him in his rise to the top of the opium trade later in life.

Though he was once arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to death by Burma’s brutal military junta for his implication in a scheme to sell a crop of opium to the United States’ government for US$ 12 million. He escaped such a fate by paying off the authorities and ended up serving only a sentence of house arrest until the 1980s when he began to engage in the drug trade again.

During the economic struggles of the 1990s, Lo Hsing Han found himself in the favor of Myanmar’s junta once again because they desperately needed currency and investment. Years of economic isolation due to an international pariah status had left the regime depleted of financial resources, and Lo Hsing Han’s talent for creating money where none had existed prior was in high demand.

Lo Hsing Han transferred the administration and ownership of his Asia World conglomerate to his American-educated son Steven Law before his death. While its origins in the drug trade have led to the Asia World’s blacklisting by the United States government, its influence in Myanmar is unlikely to wane soon.

[The Economist]