BANGKOK, Thailand — Khun Sa, a drug lord once described by the U.S. government as the world's largest producer of heroin, has died, an associate and a Myanmar official said Tuesday. He was 74.

Khuensai Jaiyen, a former secretary of Khun Sa, said his former boss died Friday in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, according to relatives. The cause of death was not immediately known, but Khun Sa had long suffered from diabetes, partial paralysis and high blood pressure.

Khun Sa once headed a guerrilla army and called himself a freedom fighter.

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