The deputy head of military intelligence, Major-General Kyaw Win, said the former leader's son-in-law, Aye Zaw Win, and grandsons Aye, Kyaw and Zwe were under investigation.
'We detained them for attempting to seize state power and split the armed forces,' he said. 'They were arrested in the nick of time.'
Kyaw Win refused to name the officers involved, but reliable sources said they included the heads of the navy and the air force. He stressed that the coun try's three most senior generals - its leader Than Shwe, army head Maung Aye, and the intelligence chief Khin Nyunt - were still united.
All the regional military commanders are reported to have been summoned to the capital, Rangoon. At a rare press conference in the city, Kyaw Win said the four main suspects were detained last Thursday at a Rangoon restaurant while they waited for 'some commanders they know'.
During interrogation the suspects allegedly said their motive was dissatisfaction with the regime. 'Aye Zaw Win and sons admitted they had suffered some losses in business due to the government's economic policy and that they were unhappy at not enjoying privileges,' he said.
Rangoon residents said the army guards that usually pro tect 92-year-old Ne Win's lakeside home had been replaced by police. Kyaw Win said barbed-wire barricades put on the road to the house 'were a temporary measure'.
It is not clear what has happened to the ailing ex-leader but it appears that his daughter, Sandar Win, is effectively under house arrest.
Ne Win retired in 1988 but still commands enormous influence in Burma, which has been renamed Myanmar. He led the independence struggle against Britain, which succeeded in 1948, and seized power in a coup in 1962.
His exit was followed by a pro-democracy uprising that the military crushed. They held an election, but refused to recognise the victory of the National League under Aung San Suu Kyi, whose defiance has won her the Nobel peace prize.
