YANGON, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- The gunman's assassination plot on a legal adviser of Myanmar's ruling party is assessed to aim at destabilizing the nation according to initial investigation, said a press release of the President's Office Monday evening.
U Ko Ni, legal adviser of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party, was gunned down at the Yangon international Airport on Sunday afternoon upon his arrival back from Indonesia.
The government is continuing to make urgent investigation into the incident for further exposure of those behind the scene, the release said, adding that security measures are being specially tightened.
Mandalay regional police said on Monday that the gunman U Kyi Lin, who shot dead the legal adviser, is not Mandalay resident although he was originally so identified.
The authorities traced the address shown in the ID card which the gunman left when he was arrested, but he was found not actually residing at the address.
Meanwhile, Mandalay Region Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Myo Min Aung told reporters at the parliament that the gunman is further identified as an ex-prisoner from Mandalay prison who was sentenced to 27 years' jail term for stealing Buddha statue, but was once released in 2014 under amnesty order after serving for 11 years' term.
The prominent legal adviser of the NLD, who is also parliamentary lawyer, was gunned down at the airport Sunday 5:00 p.m. local time, upon his arrival back from a senior leadership program in Jakarta.
The gunman also killed a taxi driver who had tried to capture him before he was arrested by the police and bystanders.
U Ko Ni was shot in the head at a close distance at the airport's taxi stand near arrival terminal-1.
