Rangoon – Burmese junta authorities in former capital Rangoon have stopped township police stations from disseminating information on crimes since the end of August, sources said.

The new instruction to township level police stations says reporters and journalists will not be able to obtain information from the police station but will have to approach Divisional Police headquarters, according to the source.

The media community said the new restriction came after Rangoon Divisional Police headquarters summoned Chief Reporter Saw Myint Than of Pauktaw from the Rangoon based weekly 'Flowers News Journal' and took him to task for reporting the murder of a couple in Thingankyun.

"The restriction is mainly on murder cases. Now the township police stations refer to divisional police headquarters when reporters ask them about information on crime," a Rangoon based reporter, who wished not to be named, said.

Earlier, government departments occasionally invited reporters and released information but now these departments will also stop the practice, the source added.

The new restrictions come as residents of Rangoon face rising crimes including murders in recent months.

The source said the murder in Green Bank in March, where five people were killed, is still shrouded in mysterious as the police failed to find any clues regarding the murder case.

Though Police Chief Brig. Gen. Khin Yi reportedly told the 'The Voice' weekly journal in its June 26 issue that he will have something to tell reporters as soon as possible after cracking the case, no further information has been released so far.