Gangs of looters are breaking into abandoned properties in Bhamo Town, Kachin State, stealing from them and vandalising them before using trucks and auto rickshaws to remove the stolen goods.

The gangs of looters have been operating since January 2025 and are becoming more brazen, breaking down doors to get into empty houses and taking everything they can, according to a Bhamo Town-based aid worker helping people displaced from the town.

He said: “Some homeowners left cupboards open when they evacuated to prevent them from being destroyed in case of theft. But the thieves deliberately broke them. In some homes, the thieves defecated or left used menstrual products behind. These are deliberately nasty and despicable acts. If the homeowners had still been there, the thieves would likely have harmed them.”

After fighting erupted between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the junta in Bhamo Town, on 4 December 2024, both sides advised residents to leave the town immediately so many people fled their homes in minutes and took little more than the clothes on their backs and a few essentials.

In the early days of the fighting some people  stayed behind to guard their properties, but as the fighting intensified it became impossible for them to stay and they had to leave. This allowed gangs of thieves to operate in the town more freely and brazenly, using vehicles to transport goods as if they were moving house.

The aforementioned aid worker said: “Earlier, thieves used motorbikes and auto rickshaws for their operations. But since January, the situation has worsened, and now they are even using trucks. They steal goods with ease, it resembles a house-moving operation, they park trucks in front of homes and load them as if they own the items. There have even been incidents where homeowners, returning to check on their properties, had verbal threats made against their lives on encountering the burglars in action and were forced to leave in fear.”

He also urged the armed forces on both sides of the conflict to do their best to protect people's properties from thieves.

A few thousand residents remain in Bhamo Town, but most have left and are sheltering in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina as well as in Yangon and Mandalay.

The KIA now controls most of Bhamo Town. But, fighting is still ongoing in the town and the junta is still hitting the town with airstrikes and drone attacks.

According to the KIA, on 25 January, a KIA-led coalition captured the Bhamo-based Artillery Battalion 7006. On 25 January they took control of Bhamo Airport. On 2 February they captured the junta's Bhamo-based Artillery Battalion 366. On 3 February they neutralised Junta troops stationed in the compound of the town’s Kantawthin School.

But, since 2 February, the KIA-led offensive has been concentrating more on capturing the junta's Military Operations Command 21 (MOC 21) in Bhamo Town and fierce fighting is still ongoing there, according to a KIA announcement.