I'm getting a number of urgent requests, so the situation on the ground is far worse than what is portrayed. --MW Myanmar military arrests 40 for sabotage plot YANGON (Reuters) -- Myanmar's (Burma) military junta said on Sunday that it had arrested 40 people on suspicion of being involved in a conspiracy to sabotage the country. A ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) spokesman told a news conference that the investigation since their arrest in January revealed that those detained had links with the opposition National League of Democracy (NLD) party led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Those arrested had planned to launch bomb attacks on some Association of South East Asian Nations' (ASEAN) embassies and public places in the country and to assassinate ruling military leaders. ``It has been found that those arrested were associated one way or another with the NLD which claimed to be a legal entity. It is obvious that the NLD maintains contacts with illegal political parties,'' said Colonel Kyaw Thein, defense ministry spokesman. ``The ABSDF (All Burma Student's Democratic Front) armed group was in search of opportunity to commit terrorist acts in the country,'' he added. ``They were not only planning destructive acts but also instigating public unrest in cooperation with the BCP's (Burmese Communist Party) underground agents.'' The ABSDF is a Myanmar opposition group. The spokesman said further investigation was under way to determine whether any others were involved in the conspiracy and that they would be brought to trial later. The spokesman added that the alleged perpetrators had infiltrated student groups and Buddhist monks. The ruling SPDC and the opposition NLD have been involved in a political standoff, with the opposition claiming that the military is abusing human rights and curbing the activities of legitimate political parties. The military seized power in 1988 after brutally suppressing pro-democracy groups in the streets of Yangon. It then threw out the results of a 1991 election won by the NLD.
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