Maungdaw, Arakan State: The Burmese authorities transferred a huge arms shipment to the Burma Border Security Force (Nasaka) Headquarters of Maungdaw from Buthidaung on February 25, according to an officer from the Buthidaung port.

On February 25, a ship from Rangoon carried arms to Buthidaung without entering Akyab, the officer said.

“The Nasaka personnel were watching the ship after it reached the Buthidaung port. The Nasaka had complete control of the port until they unloaded all of the arms and loaded them into trucks. Nobody else was allowed to enter the port.”

The Nasaka used eight trucks to transport the arms from Buthidaung to the Nasaka Headquarters of Kyikanprin in Maungdaw, said a transporter from Buthidaung.

“We had to park the trucks inside the port compound, and then we were ordered to leave the trucks,” said a driver who was involved in the action.

“The Nasaka reloaded the arms into the trucks themselves during the night so nobody could see what was going on.”

“We drove the trucks at night. When we reached the Nasaka Headquarters, the Nasaka personnel ordered us to leave the trucks inside the Nasaka Headquarters.”

“The Nasaka personnel didn’t use local laborers or port laborers to load or unload the arms.”

Similarly, the Nasaka personnel transferred the arms during the night from its headquarters to the north of Maungdaw where a detainee was seen last month loading wooden boxes which are usually used to hold arms, said a local from Maungdaw who was detained at the headquarters at the time.

“The Nasaka were shifting the arms to where their outposts are stationed on the border with Bangladesh in the north of Maungdaw. Northern Maungdaw is in a mountainous area and the border line is lands,” said a local from northern Maungdaw.