Khun Sa Old Camp in Thoet Thai, Chiang Rai, Thailand by Guillaume Payen / SOPA Images
"Khun Sa Old Camp", the former northern Thailand base (until 1982) of ethnic Chinese drug lord and warlord "Khun Sa". Originally his Chinese name was Zhang Qifu before he assumed the Shan name "Khun Sa" in 1976. Khun Sa was known as the "Opium King of the Golden Triangle" and was Southeast Asia’s most wanted and most elusive drug lord for the US government, he was the leader of a 20,000-strong army called the Mong Tai Army (or MTA) and controlled more than 80 percent of Burma's opium production and approximately half of the world's heroin supply.
By the time he built that camp, he was called the "World Drug King" in this Thai village (Thoet Thai Village), before Thai troops pushed him out of the country in 1982 where he and his followers had to relocate to Homong (or Homein), Shan State, Myanmar (former Burma at that time) and invested over 300 million Thai baht (US $9.3 million) in developing and expanding the area.
Even though during the 90s he was officially the most wanted man in the world, indicted by the United States and referred to as "the worst enemy the world has" he met several foreign journalists such as French Reporter Arnaud Dubus and continued to live his life at Homong near the Thai border opposite Mae Hong Son.
In 1991, Khun Sa declared the creation of an independent Shan State, with himself as president.
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