The Junta police force in Mon State has recently been arresting and extorting an increasing number of people throughout the state,

Police patrols in downtown areas of several Mon State towns have increased. They stop people under the pretext of carrying out security checks and then they extort them. In densely populated areas they are also checking overnight guest lists on which home owners, by law, need to register any guests they have staying overnight.

In the Mon State townships of Paung, Thaton, Bilin, Kyaikto and Ye the police are arresting people for various reasons, but they are mainly targeting two men riding together on a motorcycle, which has been banned in those townships.

A Mon State resident who wished to remain anonymous said: “The police are mainly targeting and extorting money from pairs of men riding together on the same motorcycle. Ordinary people ride this way when needed, but if they run into the police, they're in trouble for sure. Most of this extortion is carried out by low-ranking officers. I’m not sure whether their superiors don’t know about it or are deliberately allowing it.”

But, if motorcycles ignore police checkpoints the consequences could be even worse as police will shoot at riders who do not stop and then, if they are still alive, arrest them.

Sometimes there are also and local administration officials junta also manning police checkpoints.

If people cannot pay the money the police demand for their release they face being beaten, arrested and charged for crimes that will often result in them serving prison time.

Reporting police extortion to the Military Council (junta) authorities is pointless as they take no action and may even threaten those who try to make complaints.

Whilst the Mon State police force concentrates on arresting and extorting more people, it only conducts minimal investigations into widespread crimes that happen on a daily basis, such as motorcycle theft.