Maungdaw: Armed robbers on Saturday looted the house of the chairman of Thet Yet Okk Village in Maungdaw Township on the western Burma border, said his relative.

"The robbers looted goods worth eight million kyat from my uncle's house at midnight on Saturday at gunpoint. They entered the house pretending to be army officials," he said.

The robbers only raided the home of U Tun Aye Maung, chairman of the village and fled.

"Soon after the incident my uncle rushed to the local Nasaka camp to complain but no action was taken," he said.

Thet Yet Okk is a small village on the bank of the Naff River under Nasaka Area No. 5 in northern Maungdaw Township.

Robberies have been on the rise on the western Burma border recently after law enforcement agencies - both Nasaka and police - failed to crack down on crimes in the area.

A teacher from Nga Khura Village said, "I have never heard of such a robbery in our area in a long time. Now robberies are occurring everywhere in our township. I think it has a bearing to the economic crisis in the area."

On the western Burma border, there are a number of law enforcement agencies for security, but robberies continue to occur. The people in the border area are insecure.