GROUP 8

RED WA (UNITED WA STATE ARMY)

-The Red Wa is the most powerful organized crime gang in Thailand. The Red Wa come from
Myanmar (Burma) and they are associated with the United Wa State Army. They are composed
of people from the Wa ethnic group and they work together with Chinese organize criminals in
the drug trade.
-The Red Wa control the methamphetamine trade in Thailand and neighboring countries and
are also known for being involved in the trafficking and sale of other drugs, mainly heroin.
Criminal Activities:
> drug trafficking
> arms trafficking
> counterfeiting (imitate something authentic)
> extortion
> hijacking
> kidnapping
> murder
ALLIES:
Triads
Local Chinese Criminals
UNITED WA STATE ARMY
-The self-governing ethnic minority known as the Wa live mainly in Burma, where they have
their own army, the powerful United Wa State Army (UWSA). The UWSA, which numbers some
16,000 strong (a 2005 estimate) to 30,000 full-and part-time fighters (2013 estimate) and
controls towns along the Chinese and Thai borders in northeastern Burma’s Shan state, is in a
fragile cease-fire with the Burmasa military.
HISTORY
On 17 April 1989, ethnic Wa soldiers splitting from the Communist Party of Burma
(underground communist party in Myanmar (Burma). It is the oldest existing political party in
the country established the United Wa State Army. In 1994, the ex-communist Wa (still refered
to by the Thais as Wa Daeng’ or Red Wa) finally arrived on the Thai border.
PERSONALITIES
1. Chao Ngi Lai (Founder)
2. Bao Youxiang (Current Leader)
3. Wei Hsueh-kang (Leader)
4. Xuexian Ai (Co-founder)
5. Zhao Zhongdang (Deputy Commander-in-Chief)
6. Aung Myint (Spokesperson)
7. Li Zhao Guo (Supreme Court Chief)
8. Sun Khun (Deputy Chief of External Relationship Department)
ALLIES:
National Democratic Alliance Army
United Liberation Front of Assam
Arakan Army
OPPONENTS:
Union of Myanmar
Shan State National Army
Mong Tai
 CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES AND FLOW OF OPERATIONS
DRUG TRAFFICKING
-The United Wa State Army (or the Red Wa) is a major concern for the Thai government because
this organization, located in the Burmese part of the GoldenTriangle, is believed to be
responsible for the manufacturing and trafficking of millions of methamphetamine tablets
(called yaba or mad drug in Thailand) into Thailand for local consumption.
-While heroin produced by the Red Wa and other groups in the Golden Triangle continues to
pass through Thailand, the Thai authorities are, as in the past, less concerned with this because
the heroin market in Thailand itself is relatively small.
-The UWSA is said to be the largest drug-producing organization in Southeast Asia.

REFERENCES:
1. Finckenauer & Ko-Lin Chin, Asian Transnational Organized Crime,10.
2. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/213310.pdf
3. https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/university-og-baguio/criminal-procedure
/specialized-investigation-finals/20344270
4. https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Wa
5. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/wa.htm
6. https://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/United _Wa_State_Army
7. https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/213310.pdf