Maungdaw: A Captain of the Nasaka was summoned to the Army Operation Planning Bureau in Buthidaung on June 8 for illegally renting Bangladesh networked mobile phones to local businessmen on a monthly basis, said a source close to the Burmese Army.
Captain Win Oo, was summoned to the Bureau after a businessman, Hassan, was arrested in possession of a Bangladesh networked telephone by soldiers at a road checkpoint.
Hassan was arrested at the Beauhar Gate on the Buthidaung- Maundgaw motor road. The mobile phone was seized from him during a body search.
In the interrogation cell, Hassan reportedly confessed that the telephone belonged to Captain Win Oo and he had rented it from him for business. He was paying 100,000 kyats as monthly rent.
Captain Win Oo, who is in charge of the three-mile check point on the Buthidaung-Maungdaw motor road, was summoned by army authorities to Army Operation Planning Bureau in Buthidaung for questioning regarding the seizure of the telephone.
However, Captain Win Oo was sent back to his outpost in the evening the same day after being questioned.
Hassan is being detained at an army outpost and he is likely to be transferred to police custody after interrogation by the army.
On the western Burma border, a lucrative business thrives among Nasaka officials who rent out Bangladesh networked mobile telephones to local businessmen in their respective Nasaka areas for large fees.
Local sources said every Nasaka official on the western Burma border has many Bangladeshi mobile telephones for renting out to local businessmen in his area at a rate of 100,000 kyat per month for a mobile set.
Major Nay Myo, who is the commander of Nasaka area No. 7, has 30 Bangladeshi networked mobile phone sets and he has rented the telephones to businessmen in his area of control for 100,000 kyat per month.
The Burmese junta does not allow its citizens to use Bangladesh networked mobile telephones in Burmese territory. The Nasaka officials are taking advantage and renting the mobile phones to local businessmen.
In Burma, mobile phones are very expensive - one CDMA set costs 1.6 million and ordinary people cannot afford it. Because of this many businessmen on western Burma border have been using Bangladesh networked mobiles rented from Nasaka officials.
