Two robbers were executed on 23 August night, at the headquarters of the Burmese border guard force Nasaka, a week afterthey were arrested in Kyikan Pyin, Maungdaw in western Burma's Arakan State, said a source from the headquarters.

The robbers were identified as Mohammed (30) and Kashem (28). They were said to have been caught by Nasaka officers during an operation in the jungle of the Mayu Mountains on 16 August.

"The robbers were executed with sharp blows by a strong wooden rod on the back of their heads while they were put in a squatting position after being blindfolded and having their hands and legs bound, at around 10 pm last Monday at the Hill No. 4 Security Outpost at the headquarters," the source told Narinjara on condition of anonymity.

The source added that the bodies of the robbers were buried at the base of the Hill Outpost.

In connection with the robbers, Nasaka forces have also arrested 48-year-old Nur Alam, who was a former VPDC secretary in Ward No. 5 in Maungdaw. He is still being detained in the detention camp at Nasaka headquarters.

According to the source, more than 20 robbers broke up into separate groups after committing an armed robber around midnight on 9 August in a Hindu village near Maungdaw. The robbers split up when villagers resisted them with an alarm. The robbers fatally shot one young villager and seriously injured five others.

The two executed robbers had been on the look-out for the authorities during the robbery and missed their groups when they quickly fled the village. One group of robbers was said to have sneaked into Alaethankyaw in southern Maungdaw while another group fled across the Mayu Range into Bangladesh.

The source said that the group that fled to Bangladesh also robbed a Buddhist monastery in Ngwe Taung Village in the Mayu Range, leaving the monk of the monastery with his hands and feet tied.

Local residents who have been victims of the robbers told Narinjara that in every case the robbers impersonated Nasaka personnel checking guests in the household, then entered into the homes and looted them.

In some cases, the victims had seen the robbers wearing Nasaka uniforms and using guns similar to those used by the border guard forces.

A local elder said, "They should not execute the arrested robbers quietly. The robbers should be brought to a public trial, and then they should be convicted for the long perpetrated crimes. Now it is quite sure, people in our localities say, that the crime had the involvement of and was abetted by some Nasaka personnel."

Nearly 50 armed robberies have occurred in Maungdaw and Buthidaung on the western border in Burma's Arakan State from mid-2009 to now, said a police source.