Ko Ni Min Aung, a student leader from Sittwe University, has been missing since July 21 after Burmese military intelligence personnel raided the hotel he was staying at in Rangoon's Hlaing Township, said a friend of his.

"He has been missing since then. We are looking for him but we have not yet received any information on the whereabouts of Ko Ni Min Aung. So we are worried," he said.

Ko Ni Min Aung was wanted by authorities for his role in leading several student protests in Sittwe against the government in the past few years.

"He was staying at a hotel in Hlaing Township in Rangoon. On July 21, three plainclothes intelligence officers and a group of policemen raided the hotel, but he managed to escape because he was not at the hotel," the source said.

Ko Ni Min Aung was once arrested by police in Sittwe, when he led student protests against the increase in school bus fares in 2008, but he was later released after interrogation.

In 2009, there was also a protest at Sittwe University against the government that was led by Ko Ni Min Aung. After the protest, police attempted to arrest him but he managed to evade capture by traveling to Rangoon.

Ko Ni Min Aung has become well known among students in Sittwe University. In 2007 he marched to Ottama Garden along with a group of university students to lay a wreath in front of the Ottama monument to commemorate the 68th Ottama Day, despite strict government prohibition against such activities in Sittwe on that day.

A student protest took place in June this year in Sittwe that was led by students from the Sittwe Government Technical College after bus fares doubled overnight. After that protest, authorities geared up their search for Ko Ni Min Aung.

"I think Ko Ni Min Aung was not involved in the recent student protest in Sittwe because he was living in Rangoon when the protest took place in Sittwe. The authorities wanted to arrest him for his earlier activities," the source added.