New Delhi (Mizzima) – A Canadian national who entered Burma illegally from Phop Phra on the Thai side of the border with Burma, will be prosecuted for violating the Immigration Act, according to sources close to the Myawaddy Township Court.
Ron Zakreski, 62, was arrested by police on March 24 and detained in Kheenyalee Police Station. On Thursday, after a hearing in the Myawaddy Township Court, he was remanded to jail on a charge of violating the Immigration Act.
Zakreski was arrested for illegally entering Wawlay, Burma, by crossing the Moei River from Phop Phra, south of Mea Sot, according to an officer in the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA).
He was arrested after he took photographs of the location of a battle between the DKBA and the Burmese army’s Light Infantry Battalion 356.
Major Chitsayar of the DKBA Central Communications Department told Mizzima: ‘He entered Wawlay in Burma from near Mae Sot in the Thai side. As soon as he took the photos, he was arrested by the police. On the Thai side where he came from, there is a base of Thai army’.
He was detained and interrogated in the Kheenyalee Police Station near Wawlay Village for nearly a week before he appeared in the Myawaddy Township Court on Thursday.
One of Zakreski’s friends told Mizzima via e-mail that he was allowed to contact friends by telephone during his detention in the police station.
Some media erroneously reported that his name was Ronald James, sources said.
