Given half a chance the Burmese junta authorities are at their favourite pastime of collecting toll to line their pockets. Officials  at an army gate in front of the Military Operation Planning Bureau in Buthidaung Township, 80 miles north of Sittwe, have been collecting toll from traders after the motor road between Buthidaung and Maungdaw suffered severe damage, said a trader.

"The toll is collected in their own interest, not as part of government revenue. Every trader has to part with money to the soldiers at the gate in keeping with their demands. If we refuse to pay, we will not be allowed to cross the gate," he said.

The troops at the gate are collecting 1,000 Kyat for push-carts, 200 Kyat per worker carrying goods, and 3,000 Kyat for 50 kilograms of a shrimp box carried through. They have also been collecting a variety of tolls for a number of other goods, but the toll varies depending on the size and amount of the goods.

"We are carrying our goods ourselves to Maungdaw from Buthidaung in push-carts and by hand after the road was damaged. So we now have to pay the toll directly to them," he said.

Earlier, traders transported goods in trucks and other vehicles from Buthidaung to Maungdaw, but vehicles are now unable to ply on the route after the motor road suffered bridge collapses and blockages from mudslides.

The gate is located on the Buthidaung and Maungdaw motor road and was opened for collecting toll from traders by a cooperative force of the Burmese Army, police, immigration, and customs officials, according to a local source.

Business in western Burma has suffered recently as border trade ground to a halt when the motor road was severely damaged. The authorities, however, have continued to collect toll from traders carrying goods from Buthidaung to Maungdaw without showing a shred of sympathy.