YANGON -- Myanmar police have arrested a man they say is a conspirator behind the assassination of a longtime legal adviser of the country's leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myint Swe was arrested on Monday in southeastern Karen state, which borders Thailand. Police alleged he hired the suspected gunman, Kyi Lin, who was arrested right after he shot Ko Ni in the head at close range at Yangon airport on Sunday and tried to flee.
Ko Ni was a prominent Muslim lawyer who advised Suu Kyi's ruling National League for Democracy party. He specialised in constitutional law, criticizing army interference in politics and advising Suu Kyi's party how to try to get around statutes in the army-imposed constitution that gave the military undue power in the government democratically elected in 2015.
He was also an advocate for the Muslim minority in the overwhelmingly Buddhist country, a position that earned him the enmity of ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks and their allies.
Police said Myint Swe had been interrogated since Monday but refused to disclose any details. They said an initial interrogation of Kyi Lin showed that the killing was aimed at destabilising the state. They did not elaborate.
Government officials have described the gunman as an ex-convict who had been imprisoned for illegally trading in Buddha statutes.