Family members are concerned about the safety of seven people detained on Friday at a junta security checkpoint near the village of Kansauk in Kyauktaw Township.
Two men riding a motorcycle and heading from the direction of Sittwe were stopped by soldiers at the checkpoint run by Light Infantry Battalion No. 359 on November 18. The junta troops reportedly opened fire at them as the two attempted to flee. One was arrested and the other escaped.
The soldiers then stopped a three-wheeler that was driving behind the motorbike, and detained Ko Maung Tun Hlaing, 32, and Ko Than Htay, 25, from Wapyan Village; the autorickshaw driver, from Shanywar Village; and three others, according to relatives of the detainees.
Relatives subsequently went to the headquarters of Light Infantry Battalion No. 539, but were not allowed to meet the detainees, said a family member of Ko Maung Htun Hlaing. He said Ko Maung Tun Hlaing and another man had hailed the autorickshaw to take them to a gravel transport vessel where they were offered jobs, but were detained on the way.
“We knew of his arrest only after soldiers told the vessel owner about it,” said U Hla Kyaw Thein, the relative of Ko Maung Htun Hlaing. “They told the vessel owner to come and take Ko Maung Tun Hlaing and the other man, along with letters of criminal clearance from the concerned ward or village administrators. So, we went to the battalion. But they said we could meet no one.”
Ma Oo Than May, the wife of detainee Ko Than Htay, is concerned about the safety of her husband.
“I recently gave birth to a child, so I can’t work,” she said. “Our parents have died, and we were already struggling to make ends meet. He was detained while going to his work. I went to [the battalion] along with a letter of criminal clearance [from the relevant administrator] to take him out. However, I could not meet him, and I am really worried about him.”
U Hla Kyaw Thein said family members of the detainees have frequented the headquarters of Light Infantry Battalion No. 539 since their detention, hoping that they would be allowed to meet with them.
“Family members of the autorickshaw owner and the vessel owner went to the battalion today.
But they could not meet the detainees,” he said on Saturday.
DMG was unable to obtain comment from junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun and Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura concerning the detentions.
