Maran La Hkawng, a KIO vice-administrator for the Gauri area in Kamaing Sub-township, and two other men he was with—Mr. Mangshang Ying Bawm and Mr. Naw Seng—were surrounded and arrested on Saturday by a group of 11 Burma army soldiers and other army personnel. The arrest took place at a private home in the Htoi San Yang Quarter of Kamaing, according to a villager who requested anonymity citing security concerns.

The KIO detainees were brought to the Kamaing Military Strategic Command, where they continue to be detained, according to local people.

The arrest was carried out during an operation involving troops from the Burmese army’s 66th Light Infantry Division (LID) and 11th Infantry Battalion led by Col Thant Zin Aung. Also present during the arrest were Military Affairs Security agent Aung Khaing Phyu and Kyaw Swa Aung from the Military Supply and Transportation section, according to a KIO official familiar with the incident who requested anonymity.

The arrest of Maran La Hkawng is likely linked to a disagreement with the KIO over the right to collect taxes from eel fishermen in the area, according to local people. This is the first such known arrest of someone from either the KIO or its armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), since the government allowed mining to resume in Kachin State's jade-rich Hpakant area on September 1st.

Three months ago, two KIO officials from Hpakant were arrested by the same 66th LID unit, whose soldiers were officially securing the Myitkyina-Hpakant road. At the time, the captured individuals included Kap Maw Zup's civilian administrator; Hpukjang Ze Lum, who was arrested near Hpakant on June 28th, and Lt. Maji Brang Seng, who was arrested in Mapin village near Kamaing on June 30th.

In August, the KIO officially requested that two of the KIO captives be released. However, they have yet to be freed and instead have been charged with being associated with the KIO, said Lt-Col Nhpang Naw Bu, a KIO official serving on the joint conflict resolution team based at the KIO's Laiza headquarters.

The KIO is a key member of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), a group of 12 armed ethnic groups which support the Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team (NCCT) which has been negotiating a nationwide ceasefire with Burma’s government. The KIO is also a member of the NCCT, which is meeting with the Union Peace Working Committee—the government body charged with negotiating a nationwide ceasefire with armed ethnic groups—this week in order to reach a ceasefire agreement. The KIO says it wants a genuine federal union that ensures the right of ethnic people to self-determination and national equality.

Since renewed fighting broke out in Kachin State in 2011 the government and the KIO haven’t been able to conclude a ceasefire agreement, although fighting has significantly dropped in both Kachin and northern Shan States over the past few months.