On August 11, deputy traffic police officer U Kyaw Soe Aung who is currently assigned to Muse City in Northern Shan State was reportedly arrested altogether with his two subordinates for illegally transporting jade.
He was arrested while illegally carrying approximate 3,600 pounds of jade to be transported to Muse City by trucks around Own Chaw Village after successfully by passing the nearby 16 Miles Gate Checkpoint, reported a gem trader from Muse.
“They were carrying a truck full of jade weighting around 1.5 tons. The stones do not belong to them. They were carrying them for someone.” said the trader.
The seized jade was estimated to be worth millions of Kyats in today market price and it was intended to be smuggled to China through Ruili opposite Muse City, the trader added.
Meanwhile, the jewels and gemstones businesses in Ruili are slow and the market prices of the jewels and gemstones are continuously dropping, according to jewel traders.
Based on the news piece from Shan Herald
Cited from the News of Shan Herald: http://www.burmese.panglong.org/news/96-2008-08-03-06-49-23/3408-2012-08-14-10-25-59.html Tuesday, 14 August 2012, 17:25
