I have problem with UTF-8 in mysql

Hello ,

I have csv data files having large records. Csv files in unicode
format i import into mysql 4.1.22 then records goes properly into
database. but when using phpmyadmin i performs some operatins it
returns null recordset. means

mysql->select * from tbl_name where filed_1 like '%a';

it returns zero records in phpmy admin
why it happens i set character set to utf-8 and collation
utf-8_unicode_ci


please give me solution TAI......:)