A police officer on duty at Kyouk Taw police station, Khin Maung, confirmed that the police are searching for many people relating to the 2012 trouble in Arakan State.

He said: “We are yet to trace many people, as they are avoiding arrest.”

The police officer added that everybody was worried over the 2012 violence and many criminals were roaming free, which was a matter of serious concern.

He also revealed that the police were proceeding carefully to ensure that arrests do not spark off violent retaliations.

Various local leaders and citizens representing civil society groups recently approached the Arakan State chief minister requesting the arrest plan be checked before being fully implemented.

U Khin Maung, a local leader, who was in a delegation that met the chief minister on 11th December said: "Some arrested people may be involved with the violence, but many of them were seemingly not involved with the arson. Moreover, a few of the individuals named in the police arrest list have already died. Many of them also left the country to go live in exile after the violence, so we requested that the state government check on the matter.”

Local leaders claim that most of the accused individuals were out of their localities during the violence and that they should not be arrested for crimes they did not commit.

The police officer, Khin Maung, denied these claims and confirmed that cross checks would be made to ensure that those who are arrested really did take part in the violence.

He said: "All the arrested people will be interviewed according to our police procedures to establish if they were involved in criminal behaviour.

He also revealed that the police have only arrested four individuals on the list, two of whom were identified as natives of Kyanyo Byin Village.

Edited for BNI by Mark Inkey