The junta has arrested 20 Arakanese displaced people (IDPs) sheltering in Mayancho and Hpayargyi villages in Thabaung Township, Ayeyarwady Region, accusing them of being Arakan Army (AA) informants.

On 8 March 2025 junta soldiers set up a temporary camp at the Mayancho Village monastery in Myancho Village. On 9. March they carried out checks on the road between Mayancho and Hpayargyi villages during which they arrested 20 Arakanese IDPs, of whom 16 were men and four were women.

A resident of Thabaung Town said to DMG: “Junta troops selectively arrested 20 IDPs from those traveling along the road between Mayancho and Hpayargyi. The arrests were not made all at once; they were carried out separately as individuals were checked while passing by. The soldiers accused those arrested of being AA informers, and AA members.”

The 20 arrested people originally came from Gwa and Thandwe townships in Arakan (Rakhine) State where they had all fled fighting. They are aged between 20 and 40 years of age and currently they are being held and interrogated at the police station in Yekyi Town in Yekyi Township which is next to Thabaung Township.

fighting between the junta and revolutionary forces broke out near Sinkanikhon Village in Thabaung Township in the first week of March. This caused the junta to increase its activities, such as stopping and searching people, in Thabaung Township, according to locals. As a result there are concerns for the safety of Arakan IDPs in the area who are being targeted by such searches.

An Arakanese IDP in Ayeyarwady Region said: “Since the fighting began spreading into Ayeyarwady Region, the junta has become increasingly aggressive toward the Arakanese IDPs here. When it fails to gain the upper hand against the AA on the battlefield, the junta arrests Arakanese IDPs simply because we IDPs, share the same ethnic background as the AA. Now, our lives are no longer safe, no matter where we go.”

Fighting in the southern Arakan states of Thandwe, Taungup, and Gwa has displaced thousands of people. The junta has already arrested hundreds of Arakanese IDPs who were sheltering in Ayeyarwady Region. Of those, some have been released but most are still detained.