The two teenage leaders of a mystical Asian guerrilla group surrendered yesterday on the Thai border with Mynamar, authorities said.
Luther and Johnny Htoo and 14 other hungry and exhausted members of God’s Army turned themselves in to Thai authorities without a fight and gave up weapons including M-16 rifles, police said.
The group is suspected of recruiting refugees from Mynamar’s military regime to launch raids across the jungle border into Thailand.
They have been blamed for several attacks in Thailand, including last year’s bloody assault on a hospital and the 1999 siege of the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok.
After the embassy attack, the Htoos, then 12, became world famous thanks to a photograph of Luther, smoking a cigarette and standing next to Johnny, his long-haired twin.
A local police chief, who took custody of the rebels yesterday, confirmed the Htoos were among them.
“Two of them are the twins, Johnny and Luther. I have seen their picture in local newspapers before,” Chalong Sonjai told Reuters.
He said the rebels surrendered because of “an intense hunt” by Thai security forces following the killing of six people in a grocer’s shop Dec. 30.