Travellers are being rigorously checked at military checkpoints, especially between Lajayang and Garayang Villages on the illegal Sino-Burma border trade route in Kachin State, northern Burma by the Burmese Army, since Monday (October 6), said travellers.

Cars and people are not being allowed after 6 p.m. between Myitkyina and Laiza for security reasons, said sources close to the Burmese Army. People from both the State Peace and Development Council (SDPC) and the KIO between Myitkyina and Laiza are affected by this order as of 6 p.m. today. The orders have come from the junta's Northern Command HQ based in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

Several travellers told KNG today, that every car carrying passengers and motorcyclists are being stopped at more than five multi-security checkpoints between the two villages. People have to get down from their cars and motorcycles and cross the checkpoints on foot.

Moreover, every traveller has to show his or her National Registration Card (NRC). Their baggage is also being searched by multi-security agents at every checkpoint, added passengers.

According to border traders, there are more than five military checkpoints between Lajayang and Garayang villages and there are soldiers, police, special branch police, narcotic police, Military Affairs Security Unit (Sa-Ya-Pha), Forestry, Immigration officials and members from other government departments present.

Lajayang village is the base of the Burmese Army's Infantry Battalion No. 105 and its branch posts are located in Nam San Yang, Gang Dau Yang, the two edges of Mali River (Not Irrawaddy River) bridge and Garayang. It is positioned at the entrance Laiza, the border business centre in the controlled area of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) on the Sino-Burma border in Kachin State.

The Myitkyina-Laiza Road is the key border route for import and export of goods to and from China and Burma in northern Burma and hundreds of travellers use this road daily, said local traders.

Traders in Kachin State mainly import basic children's and adult food commodities, construction materials, fuel, books, stationeries, motorcycles and plastic materials from China. While Kachin traders mainly export raw materials like log, jade, cattle, wild animals (bear, fish, and snakes), tree roots, among others, according to local traders.

All travellers, traders and passengers on the Myitkyina-Laiza Road came under strict checking a day after the Northern Command commander Maj-Gen Soe Win visited Laiza, the headquarters and business centre of the KIO.

The Burmese Army calls it the front line and every three months it changes the battalion there because it is located near the KIO controlled areas on the Sino-Burma border.