A member of the cartel set up by internationally known druglord Liu Guoxi, himself a member of the Upper House, is an MP in the Shan State Assembly, according to sources from Shan State North.

Zhao Dechang, 34, is also Liu’s relative through his mother Liu Yuhuai. Sources were able to identify him from the photo that appears in the booklet containing bio-data of MPs, distributed by the government.

His name has appeared twice in connection with Liu Guoxi in the reports filed by SHAN’s field researchers.

Zhao, according to his bio-data, was born on 4 June 1978 in Kunggyan township, now in Kokang Self-Administered Zone. He is married and has 3 children, all girls. His permanent address is in Laogai, the seat of the Self-Administered Zone.

He became an MP for Constituency # 2 for Shan State Assembly, Kunggyan township, under the banner of the ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in the 2010 elections, as there were no other candidates to challenge him. Two other druglords, Liu Guoxi and Bai Xuoqian (MP, Shan State Assembly, Laogai township, Constituency # 1) were “elected” in the same way.

Bai also became the head of the Kokang administration, after he joined hands with the military government in 2009 to oust his boss Peng Jiasheng who had rejected the Burma Army run Border Guard Force (BGF) program.

Peng, 81, charged with involvement in illegal activities, including producing drugs and arms, lives in exile.

“The trouble with Kokang is that both the Peng and Bai clans are involved in drugs,” one of the researchers wrote. “But Bai is getting away with it, because he sided with Naypyitaw on the BGF issue, while Peng is not, because he was against BGF.”

Kokang now has 1 BGF: BGF # 1006, commanded by Yang Xiaojing, a Kokang, but administered by a Burma Army major.