Phyo Hein Htut, Conspiracy to Injure or Kill a Foreign Official, New York 2021

Two Myanmar Citizens Charged in Plot to Attack Ambassador

In a shocking turn of events, two Myanmar citizens, Phyo Hein Htut and Ye Hein Zaw, have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to injure or kill the country's ambassador to the United Nations in New York.

According to the allegations, between July 2021 and August 5, 2021, Htut and Zaw conspired to injure or kill Myanmar's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (the 'Ambassador'). Htut communicated with an arms dealer in Thailand who sells weapons to the Burmese military, which overthrew Myanmar's civilian government in February 2021.

During the conspiracy, Htut and the arms dealer agreed on a plan to hire attackers to hurt the Ambassador in an attempt to force him to step down from his post. If the Ambassador did not step down, the arms dealer proposed that the attackers hired by Htut would kill him.

Shortly after agreeing on the plan, Zaw contacted Htut by cellphone and transferred approximately $4,000 to Htut through a money transfer app as an advance payment on the plot to attack the Ambassador. Later, during a recorded phone conversation with Zaw, Htut discussed how the planned attackers would require an additional $1,000 to conduct the attack on the Ambassador in Westchester County, and for an additional payment the attackers could 'finish off' the Ambassador.

Htut, 28, and Zaw, 20, both citizens of Myanmar, are each charged in separate complaints with one count of conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign official, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

The charges were announced by Audrey Strauss, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jacqueline Maguire, the Acting Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and Dermot Shea, Police Commissioner of the City of New York.

The outstanding investigation was commended by Ms. Strauss, who praised the tireless work of law enforcement partners at all levels of government to ensure the safety of foreign diplomats and officials.

Htut and Zaw are set to be presented in the U.S. District Court in White Plains before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/two-myanmar-citizens-arrested-plot-injure-or-kill-myanmar-s-ambassador-united-nations