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Currently residing in New York, United States, Phyo Hein Htut, 28, and Ye Hein Zaw, 20, have been arrested. They were each charged with one count of conspiracy to assault and make a violent attack upon a foreign official.

Both Htut and Zaw are citizens of Myanmar. They are accused of conspiring between July 2021 and August 5, 2021 to assault and make a violent attack upon Kyaw Moe Tun, 52, who has been serving as Myanmar's permanent representative to the United Nations since 2020.

According to the criminal complaints filed on August 6, 2021, Htut communicated with an arms dealer in Thailand who sells weapons to the Burmese military, which overthrew Myanmar's civilian government in February 2021. The two allegedly agreed on a plan in which Htut would hire attackers to hurt Tun.

The goal was to force the ambassador to step down from his post; otherwise, the attackers hired by Htut would kill Tun as the arms dealer allegedly proposed. Shortly after the agreement, Zaw allegedly transferred around $4,000 to Htut through a money transfer app as an advance payment on the plot to attack the ambassador.

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Via a phone conversation, Htut and Zaw discussed how the planned attackers would require an additional $1,000 to conduct the attack on Tun in Westchester County, New York and an additional payment to kill the ambassador, according to the complaints. Zaw allegedly agreed to pay the additional $1,000 and to try to obtain the additional money.

On August 6, 2021, Zaw and Htut appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew E. Krause in the U.S. District Court in White Plains, Westchester County. If found guilty, the two Burmese men will each spend five years in prison.

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