Yangon International airport. / AFP
An anti-regime guerrilla group, the Urban Owls, claims to have shot dead Ye Khine, Yangon International Airport’s security chief, on Monday in Yangon.
The former air force major is associated with Tun Myint Naing, the founder of the junta-linked Asia World Company, and Vice Senior General Soe Win, the regime’s deputy leader, the resistance group said.
The Irrawaddy could not independently verify the reports.
Pro-junta Telegram channel Kyaw Swar reported that the 46-year-old, who was also the general manager of Yangon Aerodrome Company Limited, an Asia World subsidiary, was shot dead at his house in Mingaladon Township.
A photo showed Ye Khine shot in his head and neck while in his vehicle.
The Urban Owls said Ye Khine detained anti-regime activists, including artists and striking government staff, while they tried to leave the country from the airport.
He has been accused of extorting money from civilians, including scholars, trying to leave Myanmar.
A released journalist posted on Facebook on Monday that he was interrogated by Ye Khine while he was held at the airport in late 2021 after arriving back in Yangon.
The guerrilla group said the victim was involved in detentions and sending detainees to junta interrogation centers.
The Urban Owls said they have lists of airport staff who arrange detentions for the junta.
In March the resistance group killed a junta legal and money-laundering aide, Minn Tayzar Nyunt Tin, the founder of the Biz Law Consult Myanmar Legal Firm in Yangon.
His law firm operated in Thailand, India, Vietnam, Singapore and Cambodia.
The legal consultant was accused of money laundering for the junta and its generals and his companies helped buy property and land and establish companies, the Urban Owls said.
