Maungdaw, Arakan State: Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) officers arrested a police officer’s family with a large quantity of Yaba (methamphetamine) tablets in Buthidaung on June 11, according to an officer from Buthidaung jetty.
“The DEA officials arrested the mother-in-law of Police Officer Shwe Maung from Maungdaw Police Station while she was transporting 18,000 yaba tablets from Akyab (Sittwe) by express boat which arrived in Buthidaung at 11 a.m.”
“The DEA arrested the drug trafficker after she left from the same jetty as the Arakan State Economic Minister, U Mra Aung, who was in an express boat.”
“The DEA arrested the trafficker with two others, a Burman woman and a Rakhine man, while they were sitting on minibus number 2 Khagwei/2745 (2B/2745), owned by transport agency owner Soe Win,” said a vehicle driver who often plies the road from Maungdaw to Buthidaung.
“The DEA found the Yaba tablets inside the minibus, and the information was sent to the DEA from Akyab’s high officer to arrest the traffickers.”
“The minibus owner, Soe Win, has monopolized the transportation of goods to Maungdaw. Money is paid to the authorities not to check cargo and passenger vehicles on the way to Maungdaw.”
“Most of the illegal goods are going to Maungdaw with this so-called agency, and Soe Win charges double for other vehicles plying the Maungdaw-Buthidaung route.”
The police officer, Shwe Maung, who in the past harassed Rohingya community members with allegations of Yaba trafficking, is now found to be a main Yaba trafficker in Maungdaw, abusing the power of a police officer, said a trader from Maungdaw.
“Officer Shwe Maung arrested innocent Rohingya traders from Maungdaw with allegations of drug trafficking and extorted a huge amount of money from them.”
“The Rohingya are forced to get involved in drug trafficking by government officials who are already involved in trafficking. The Rohingya are used to transfer the Yaba to Bangladesh where they get only a small amount of money and must risk their life, otherwise the officers will charge them as drug traffickers.”
In northern Arakan, most of the drug traffickers are persons who are able to move from northern Arakan State to other parts of Burma, not members of the Rohingya community, said an elder from Maungdaw.
