Nwahyon Taung village administration officer Thein Maung and Ye Maung Thein, a land survey officer in Maungdaw, have been extorting money from villagers with false promises of registering their land since August, claimed a colleague that didn’t want their name used.
Thein Maung was recently appointed control over Rohingya villages, some of which also include Rakhines residents, said the colleague.
Ye Maung Thein warned villagers to change their name from the previous owner – in most cases their deceased father – or the land will be seized, according to one land owner.
The officers have demanded 20,000 Kyats for each acre of land. But many villagers that paid the fees weren’t given the promised documents, said the source. Now the authorities are not issuing documents for land ownership for Rohingya, even if the individual possesses the original deed, according to a politician from Maungdaw.
Many Rohingyas villagers suffer from poor education and don’t understand the government official policy on land ownership. The villagers were easily cheated when the government officials asked them for the large sums of money to transfer ownership of their land.
