Burma’s Prime Minister and Chief of Military Intelligence Gen Khin Nyunt has been under house arrest according to sources in Rangoon and a Thai government spokesman.

As yet, Rangoon has not made an official announcement with regard to the PM’s status, but Thai government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair said that Khin Nyunt had been put under house arrest on corruption charges.

In Rangoon, rumors of the arrests of top officials and a failed coup attempt have circulated widely since last night.

“It’s hard to know what’s really going on”, said a Rangoon-based journalist. “This is an inside story.” Rangoon residents spoken to by telephone on Tuesday said that there was no increased military presence in the streets and everything was as normal.

There were unconfirmed reports that Khin Nyunt was arrested at 8:30 pm last night on his return to Rangoon from Mandalay. There were other reports, also unconfirmed, that officers from the Ministry of Defense raided the Office of the Chief of Military Intelligence, or OCMI, headquarters.

Senior OCMI staffers across the country are rumored to have been arrested on the orders of Deputy Sr-Gen Maung Aye, army chief and vice chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, or SPDC, the junta that oversees
the government of Burma.

Sources in Rangoon said that Minister of Home Affairs Col Tin Hlaing was also arrested. Khin Nyunt’s son Ye Naing Win was rumored to have been detained and his internet server Bagan Cybertech taken over by the government. But as of Tuesday the company was still running.

Since last month, tensions between the Burma Army and the OCMI have been rumored to have been higher than usual. Seventy-odd OCMI personal at Nam Phakka in Muse township on the Chinese border were reportedly arrested on
the orders of the Lashio commander in September.

Khin Nyunt was appointed Prime Minister in August last year. But his lack of progress with regard to the National Convention (which was supposed to draw up a new constitution for the country, but was adjourned indefinitely
in July) and the Burma Army’s refusal to recognize the ceasefire agreement that his subordinates made with the rebel Karen National Union suggested that his authority was being undermined.