S.H.A.N. has learnt that on 28th October a Tatmadaw (Burmese Army) tactical unit arrested the village headman and another villager of Louk-Loan village tract, Momeik township for allegedly helping ethnic armed groups.
About 40 plain-clothes soldiers from light infantry 276 and 223 under the command of the Momeik based tactical unit entered into Louk-Loan village, while about 30 uniformed soldiers surrounded the village.
Some villagers were placed under house arrest for a day and the village headman, Sai Myat Tun and a villager, Sai Kyaw Hla have been arrested and taken in for questioning.
Four of Sai Kyaw Hla’s family tried to visit him at the tactical unit army camp where he was being held but they were denied permission to see him.
A prominent villager who did not want to be identified said: “The army accuse us of supporting the ethnic armed forces. When they [ethnic armed forces] come with guns should we refuse them entry? If the army does not want them to come in why don’t they come and guard the village? The army call them insurgents but the army are worse than insurgents.”
Though the government forces surrounded the village for a day, arrested and questioned villagers and searched the homes of those accused of helping ethnic armed insurgents nothing illegal was found according to a villager.
Louk-Loan village is two miles south of Momeik Township.
