The number of people owning and driving motorcycles on the Thai-Burma has gone up since the beginning of this month after the Burmese regime started granting license to unregistered two wheelers.

Ko Oo, a motorcycle broker and driver said currently most motorbikes were being traded into Pegu Division. At least 500 motorcycles from Thailand were brought to Myawaddy , Burma daily.

Ko Oo said "Most people are from Myawaddy and they want to hire motorbikes made in Thailand due to the scarcity of jobs in their areas."

Last week four motorcyclists were killed while taking a short-cut by avoiding the Ataran Bridge near Moulmein . Yet the number of motorcyclists is on the increase.

The motorbike owners lead the way for their workers and first bribe those on the gate such as Mon armed groups, Karen armed groups, and the local Burmese officers along the highway to pass easily.

Motorbike owners hire workers to drive their bikes by paying about 30,000 Kyat from Myawaddy to Hpa-an, the capital of Karen State , and about 50,000 Kyat from Myawaddy to Moulmein (Mawlamyine), the capital of Mon State . The drivers are paid about 40,000 Kyat from Myawaddy to Pegu Division.

According to the broker in Myawaddy, the government is to charge 75,000 Kyat for Chinese products, 120,000 Kyat for Indian, 180,000 Kyat for Thai, and 250,000 Kyat for Japanese two wheelers.

The Burmese regime will register motorbikes without license for about four months staring this month.

Sources close to the police said that illegal motorbikes have been moving around without trouble since the referendum to approve the new constitution.

The brokers said the regime will seize illegal motorbikes after the registration period.

The Burmese regime issued license to motorbike owners in 2004 after enacting a law that owners of illegally imported goods from neighbouring countries can be jailed for three years.

The junta seized thousands of illegal cars and motorbikes from the people and distributed it to senior army officers and departmental officers.