Police Chief Suspects Yettaw Mastermind

The Burmese police chief, Brig-Gen Khin Yi, alleged that a mastermind was orchestrating John William Yettaw, whose intrusion on Aung San Suu Kyi led to her arrest and trial.

“There must be a mastermind behind Mr. Yettaw. We are investigating who exactly is behind this,” the police chief told journalists and diplomats at a press conference in Rangoon on Thursday.

Khin Yi said John William Yettaw was not wealthy enough to travel and stay in Thailand and Burma for several months, and his long stays must have been financed by a group masterminding his actions.

Khin Yi also alleged that Yettaw might have wanted security guards to arrest him, because he did not take the same route entering and leaving Suu Kyi's house . “By swimming through Inya Lake he attracted the attention of police guarding Suu Kyi,” Khin Yi said.

Khin Yi frequently repeated that Yettaw had met with exiled and unlawful groups before his last visit to Burma.

According to Burmese and Thai sources in Mae Sot, a Thai town on the border with Burma, Yettaw, 53, spent more than a month at a hotel in the town after his first visit to Rangoon in November 2008. During this visit he managed to get in to Suu Kyi’s compound, but her companions prevented him from meeting her.

While he was in Mae Sot, people recalled Yettaw saying that he planned to return to visit Suu Kyi again. His second visit led to the fateful encounter with Suu Kyi in May, sources said.

In Mae Sot, Yettaw stayed at the Highland Hotel, where he spoke to several people about Burma and made brief comments about Suu Kyi. He openly told people about his first visit to her compound.

Yettaw was still in debt for the expenses he incurred during his first trip to Burma, according to his family. Before leaving his home in Falcon, Missouri, Yettaw told his wife, Betty Yettaw, that he planned to visit Asia for a book he was writing, according to an Associated Press report.

Yettaw, a Mormon, reportedly does not hold strong political views. He receives disability payments from the US Veteran’s Affairs office for Vietnam-related injuries and has been pursuing studies in psychology.

irrawaddy