Officer Tainted by U Ko Ni Murder Promoted to Deputy Police Chief

Myanmar’s military regime has promoted Win Min Thein to deputy police chief despite a record tainted by his suspected role in the assassination of prominent Muslim lawyer U Ko Ni outside Yangon International Airport in 2017.

The promotion is part of a reshuffle that also saw Police Chief Soe Hlaing transferred back to the military as head of Bureau of Special Operations 3.

Deputy Police Chief Win Bo was promoted to police chief, while Win Min Thein, previously adjutant-general, was appointed first deputy. Police Major General Myo Min Htike, who has no military background, reportedly remains second deputy.

Win Bo and Win Min Thein are graduates of the elite Defense Services Academy (DSA), part of a wider pattern of military officers being shifted into top police positions. Win Bo graduated from the DSA’s 31st intake, while Win Min Thein is from the 36th—the same class as two chief suspects in U Ko Ni’s killing, Aung Win Khaing and Zeya Phyo.

Win Min Thein’s rise through the ranks has been unusually rapid. He was transferred to the police in 2011 as a captain, assigned to the security of the parliament compound in Naypyitaw. He later served with Yangon’s Special Branch, overseeing intelligence during the 2015 election.

By 2016 he was head of Mingaladon airport security police, a post that placed him in charge when U Ki No was shot dead in broad daylight outside the terminal in January 2017.

A constitutional expert and legal adviser to State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD), U Ko Ni had been a vocal critic of the military-drafted 2008 Constitution and had long advocated reforms to reduce the military’s dominant political role.

Win Min Thein ignored numerous summonses to appear in court during the murder trial even though main suspect Aung Win Khaing’s brother testified that they were visiting Win Min Thein at the airport at the time of the murder.

While the hired gunman and another suspect were sentenced to death, Win Min Thein was eventually dropped from the witness roll. Instead, he was promoted to deputy Yangon police chief in 2018, then Naypyitaw police chief in 2019.

In 2020 he was advanced to the rank of brigadier general as head of No. 2 Security Command, which is responsible for diplomatic missions and managing riots in Yangon.

It was here that Win Min Thein directed crackdowns on mass protests in Yangon after the 2021 coup, issuing orders from CCTV command centers to suppress demonstrators. Three years after coup, he was rewarded with the post of Shan State police chief and later became Police adjutant-general.

Now in his 50s, Win Min Thein is shaping up as one of the most powerful figures in Myanmar’s police hierarchy as Min Aung Hlaing entrenches his presidency by installing loyalists in key positions across the security apparatus.