Burmese military junta authorities have issued a strict order to local residents to do village sentry duty at night for security against rampant robberies in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships on the western Burma border, said a resident.

"As robberies are rampant in our townships, local authorities have ordered every village here to do night sentry duty," said the resident.

An official from the Maungdaw District Peace and Development Council (DPDC) told Narinjara that local authorities had to give the order to the villagers following pressure from Naypyidaw to combat rising robberies in the areas.

"Our higher authorities from Naypyidaw since mid-August have ordered all local authorities such as the DPDC, MPDC, army battalions, Nasaka, and police to catch the robbers dead or alive, without fail, if any robberies occur again in our areas," said the official.

"It is not possible for us and our forces to watch for robbers the whole day in every village in our areas. So we have to order the villagers to safeguard their own villages by doing night sentry duty," the official added.

He added that the orders passed from Naypyidaw strongly recommended that all parties coordinate to combat the robberies, and if a robbery happens again and the culprits are not caught, the party that fails to catch them would be subject to consequent action by the higher authorities.

There are 14 army battalions, nine Nasaka areas, two police battalions, and nine police stations that are stationed for security in the western Arakan border regions. There are just two groups of armed robbers consisting of 20 to 30 persons each that have been committing the cross-border crimes in Buthidaung and Maungaw Townships next to Bangladesh, reports a police source.

The resident said that villagers have to form two to three sentry groups depending on the size of the village, and every villager has to serve as village sentries at night on rotation.

The DPDC has said that a fine of 3,000 Kyat and punitive action will be taken against those who fail to guard their village and that every villager has to do duty as night sentry regardless of their other work obligations.

In the past eight months, there have been over 50 robberies in Buthidaung and Maungdaw Townships. At least two people have been killed and many injured in the crimes, while many others have lost money and valuables.