A Myanmar businessman accused of selling arms to the Myanmar junta and financially supporting them has been arrested in Thailand on charges of conspiracy to traffic narcotics and money laundering.

Tun Min Latt, 53 was arrested along with three Thai nationals in Bangkok on 17 September at 6:00 a.m. Thai police also confiscated assets worth 200 million baht ($5.35 million USD) from the suspects.

The suspects are being held and questioned by the Thai Narcotics Suppression Bureau.

According to an unnamed Reuters source who has knowledge of the case the arrest is part of a broader Thai crackdown on money laundering from narcotics in the border town of Tachileik in Myanmar's Shan state.

According to pressure group Justice for Myanmar Tun Min Latt, along with his wife, Win Min Soe, control the Star Sapphire Group of Companies, a crony conglomerate linked to the family of junta leader Min Aung Hlaing that plays a key role in brokering arms deals for the Myanmar military and operates businesses with the Myanmar military and its conglomerate, Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL).

It claims that Tun Min Latt has built his business through decades-long corrupt deals with the Myanmar military.

Leaked documents also show that Tun Min Latt has brokered arms deals with major Israeli and Chinese companies, including Elbit Systems, Israel Shipyards, Israel Aerospace Industries and NORINCO, aiding and abetting the Myanmar military’s atrocity crimes against the people of Myanmar.

Star Sapphire Group also has numerous other business deals with the Myanmar army including ones involving casinos, hotels, mining and power companies.

Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung said: “Tun Min Latt and his associates have spent decades enriching themselves through the Myanmar military’s systemic corruption.

“They have provided the military with both revenue and arms that have fuelled atrocity crimes against the people of Myanmar, and are therefore complicit in those crimes. “

According to Justice for Myanmar Tun Min Latt and his wife Win Min Soe, have a longstanding partnership with the prominent Thai businessperson Upakit Pachariyangkun, now a senator.

In 1999, in his role as director-general of the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism under the former military junta, Tun Min Latt’s father, Lt Col Khin Maung Latt former air force lieutenant colonel, signed a deal to build Allure Resort, an illegal casino in Tachilek, a town bordering Thailand.

Tun Min Latt was a beneficiary of the deal, developing and operating the casino with Upakit Pachariyangkun.

In November 2017, the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, under the National League for Democracy, handed the casino to the Myanmar Army’s Office of the Quartermaster General, diverting the state’s 6% share of profits away from the Union Budget to the army and hiding it from parliamentary scrutiny.

Justice for Myanmar says that “the Allure Resort, and its connection to Star Sapphire’s wider network of business interests, raise serious money laundering and illicit financing concerns.”

On the subject of Tun Min Latt’s business in Thailand Justice For Myanmar spokesperson Yadanar Maung said: ““Tun Min Latt has used Thailand as a base for illicit business activities, including operating an illegal casino with Upakit Pachariyangkun and the Myanmar army, and banking with Siam Commercial Bank. This must stop.  

“As a senator, Upakit Pachariyangkun's business dealings with Tun Min Latt and the Myanmar military require public scrutiny.

“We urge Thai civil society to take action and ensure Upakit is held accountable for his corrupt business dealings and complicity in the Myanmar military’s international crimes.”

Justice for Myanmar has been calling for targeted sanctions against Tun Min Latt, the Star Sapphire Group of Companies and their directors and shareholders.

According to Reuters in August 2022 the British authorities sanctioned one of Tun Min Latt’s businesses in an "effort to limit the military's access to arms and revenue."