Four drug enforcement officers went missing on Sunday, 22 July, after a gun battle with an unidentified armed group, according to reports coming from the Thai-Burma border.
 
Remains of one, wearing a life jacket, was found floating down the Mekong near Chiangsaen, southwest of Maesai, and was later handed over to the Burmese authorities in Tachilek, opposite Maesai.
 
The four had apparently run into a trap sprung by the group when they had commandeered a boat to a location north of Mongphong, 40 km east of Tachilek. Sources said 7 armed men dressed in camouflage had opened fire upon them on their arrival.
 
The ambushers were suspected to be members of a former pro-Burma Army militia led by Naw Kham. He has been on the run since his mansion in Tachilek was raided by Burmese authorities on 10 January 2006, which netted, among others, 150 assorted weapons.
 
Details of Naw  Kham can be read on P.44. in Hand-In-Glove , a report by S.H.A.N. issued last September.