A car with four or five soldiers arrives daily to harass the workers, the miner said. Those who can’t pay up are forced to sit in the sunlight for several hours and suffer beatings with sticks. This description was verified by others familiar with the region.

 “Every day they (soldiers) detain people and demand cash but the extortionist battalion is changing. Detainees who cannot pay the cash are now brought to military bases and held until cash is given for their release,” Zau Awng said.

Thousands of miners from all over the country toil away for long hours in Hpakant using rudimentary equipment.

Extortion by the LI 101 battalion stationed in the area has increased significantly since Kachin Independence Army's (KIA) battalion 6 was forced out of much of the area in early 2013.

In May 2012, Burmese military authorities shut down the operations of most of the big firms in Hpakant to prevent KIA's political wing the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) from collecting taxes from jade. Soon after many small scale miners were encouraged to operate in the land that lay abandoned by firms that were pushed out.

Much of the large scale mining operations that used heavy equipment and machines have reduced operations or stopped completely following the collapse of a 17 year ceasefire between the KIO and Burma's central government in June 2011.

The jade mines in Hpakant are one of the largest sources of revenue for Burma's central government, but most of the funds generated are believed to end up in the pockets of cronies and the country's military elite. Daw Kyaing Kyaing, the wife of retired senior general Than Shwe, owns large stakes in several of Hpakant's jade mines as does the military connected millionaire Zaw Zaw.