Mr. Khun Sa was a guerrilla leader in the separatist movement of the Shan, the ethnic group linguistically related to the Thais who inhabit northeast Myanmar. His drug empire traded opium for guns and used the weapons to consolidate his control over large swaths of the rugged, remote and impoverished Shan region. Bert Lintner wrote on Asia Online: Khun Sa, then 33, decided to challenge the supremacy of much more senior Kuomintang opium warlords. In May 1967, he set out from the hills of northern Shan state with a large contingent of soldiers and a massive 16-ton opium convoy, destined for Ban Khwan, a small Laotian lumber village across the Mekong River from Chiang Saen in Thailand. More traders joined his convoy, and by the time it reached the city of Kengtung in eastern Shan state, its single-file column of 500 men and 300 mules stretched along the ridge for more than a mile. [Source: Bert Lintner, Asia Online, November 1, 2007*] He convened a Shan "parliament", attended by hundreds of delegates, and later announced the formation of an independent Shan State - of which he declared himself president.

In the early 1950s, he received some Military training as a soldier. He was trained by the Chinese Nationalist forces that had fled into Burma. This was after the Victory of Mao’s Communists in 1949. Unfortunately, Khun Sa and his military were supported by other governments. The military used its profits from the opium trade to buy large supplies of military equipment. Ending particle: ค่ะ ( khâ) is an ending particle for females, used when the speaker wants to make the sentence polite. 2. Basic Thai Greetings and Self-introductions Khun Sa) set out from the hills of northern Shan state with a large contingent of soldiers and a massive 16-ton opium convoy, destined for Ban Khwan, a small Laotian lumber village across the Mekong River from Chiang Saen in Thailand. More traders joined his convoy, and by the time it reached the city of Kengtung in eastern Shan state, its single-file column of 500 men and 300 mules stretched along the ridge for more than a mile."Khun Sa died on 26 October 2007 in Yangon at the age of 73. The cause of death was not known, though he had suffered from diabetes, high blood pressure, [32] and heart disease. He was cremated four days after his death. [5] His remains were cremated and buried at Yayway Cemetery, North Okkalapa Township, Yangon, Myanmar. [35] Before his death he had decided not to be buried in Shan state, due to fears that his tomb would be vandalized or destroyed. [15]

A seasoned guerrilla fighter, he once had surface-to-air missiles at his disposal and fended off sorties from national armies.On November 9 last year, officials at the village of Ban Therd Thai, Chiang Rai province, Thailand, organised a ceremony to mourn the death of Khun Sa two weeks earlier in Rangoon. “Everyone here called ‘Khun Sa chao oo’, or ‘father,'” a local official explained.

But it is believed he negotiated a deal with Burma's ruling generals to live out his life in relative luxury in Rangoon. Sa received military equipment and training from both the Kuomintang and Burmese armies. He later fought for the independence of Shan State and established his Independent territory.Khun Sa controlled his drug empire for over 30 years and reportedly earned billions of dollars in the drug trade. It is believed that he controlled about half of the heroin and opium that came of Myanmar, which in turn counted for about 60 percent of the heroin sold on the streets in the United States. In many ways his power was greatly exaggerated and overestimated. He was primary involved in the lower rungs of drug trade. The biggest profits were made by the Chinese syndicates. The first refinery for the making of high purity, injectable No. 4 heroin was erected in a Thai village called Mang Tang Wu in 1963. Its product was sent to Hong Kong. Other primitive refineries were also established but soon closed, the restriction on the expansion of No. 4 heroin production being the dearth of competent drug chemists." Moreover, the government allowed them to be financed by opium production. The Burmese government hoped that the local militia units could be self-supporting. Our first set of basic Thai-language phrases for beginners consists of different ways to greet others and introduce yourself. 1 – สวัสดี