Sniper rifles, photos of men in arms, assassination plans. All aimed at National League for Democracy chairperson Aung San Suu Kyi.
These were features of several scary Facebook posts this week (either yesterday or Wednesday) from an account that has since been deactivated. The posts, however, were captured in screenshots and shared online.
The account was linked to someone named Ye Lwin Myint, who apparently later said his account had been hacked before it disappeared completely.
Whether hacked or not, the poster provided an alarmingly detailed plan, saying that if Article 59(f) was amended to smooth the path to a Suu Kyi presidency, he would take her out with a sniper rifle or another kind of firearm after a month of practice (there’s an English translation of most of the claims, including screenshots, here).
He said he was planning to start a Facebook group called “Those dying to assassinate Daw Suu,” and that he had been sleeping with a rifle since he was 10 years old. The above photo of two heavily armed people standing next to each other accompanied the posts.
The internet sleuth who translated the posts into English says the person runs a garage in South Okkalapa Township, and that the garage had closed because of all the angry phone calls it had been receiving. The same person claimed that the poster’s father was a military man.
“We are searching for him,” a police officer told the Irrawaddy.
The veracity of the posts and the image could not be confirmed, but the timing is worrisome.
Amending or suspending 59(f), the article that bars Suu Kyi from the presidency because of her two foreign sons, is the topic of the moment, and some suspect that it will happen soon.
Whether the threats are serious or not, it may be time for Suu Kyi to increase her woefully lax security detail.
