A group of 30-some villagers from Yinye village in Khawza Sub-Township, southern Mon State were held hostage by the Nai Bin Mon splinter on the night of October 25th. According to IMNA’s source, a 40 year-old woman from Yinye village, the Nai Bin group has been moving around Khawza Sub-Township for a decade.
The Nai Bin group reportedly hid out on the back road that leads from Yinye village to the rubber plantations and orchards that surround the village, where they accosted residents returning home after the workday, threatening them with guns. The female Yinye villager that IMNA interviewed, who claims that the owner of the plantation next to hers was one of the 30 victims, said “the splinter group was waiting for villagers on the way to the plantations and asked for 100,000 kyat from each villager.”
This woman also informed IMNA that the Nai Bin group reportedly made allowances for villagers that were taken hostage along with other members of their families - the group only demanded 100,000 kyat from each family.
The splinter group detained the villagers a while, releasing the villagers one at a time to return to their homes and gather the 100,000 kyat demanded as ransom. According to the Yinye villager interviewed by IMNA, the individuals taken hostage were too frightened of a repeat visit from the Nai Bin group to fail to return with the demanded funds after being released.
According to sources in the village, the next day on October 26th, the Burmese Infantry Battalion (IB) No-31, which is based near Yinye village, investigated the villagers who had been detained the night before. The 30 villagers who had been held hostage by the Nai Bin group were ordered appear before the battalion, where Yinye villagers claim that the battalion chastised the group for giving the splinter group the funds demanded, and threatened the gathered individuals with axes. Reportedly, the incident was so frightening that one woman among the 30 had to be hospitalized after she had a heart attack in the middle of the gathering.
A 60 year-old woman from Yinye village told IMNA that the villagers felt they had no choice but to pay the price demanded by the Nai Bin group. She said, “We have to prepare to pay the money like that [in case of such incidents]. No one can refuse to pay money to the splinter group.”
