News has just been released that the wife of Arakan Army (AA) Chief of Staff Tun Myat Naing, Hnin Zar Phyu aka Zar Zar, and her two children were arrested in Chiang Mai, Thailand on December 4 by the Thai authorities.
The Thai intelligence unit arrested Hnin Zar Phyu at the Immigration Office in Chiang Mai when they visited there on December 4 for an extension of their visas.
Rakhine State Legislative Assembly Chairman and father of Hnin Zar Phyu, San Kyaw Hla, told Mizzima that they awaiting more news to come in. He would present this case to the leaders who should be informed, he added.
A source in Chiang Mai, Thailand confirmed the news by saying: “The wife of AA Chief of Staff was arrested along with her two children but we have not yet heard the reason behind the arrests. We heard that they were arrested when they went there for a visa extension.”
Thai intelligence unit reportedly arrested Hnin Zar Phyu along with her two children, daughter Saw Pye Shin aged 11 and son Myat Lin Zan aged just over one year.
Foreign news agency Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Rakhine State based Narinjara News reported that Hnin Zar Phyu and her two children were taken to Mae Sai on Thai-Myanmar border on December 6 at about 2 p.m. by helicopter.
Some sources close to the Myanmar government said that wife of AA Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Tun Myat Naing, Hnin Zar Phyu, was arrested by Thai authorities for overstaying in Thailand with an expired visa.
But Myanmar authorities did not confirm the news regarding this incident.
Mizzima contacted AA spokesman Khai Thu Kha but was unable to gain a response.
The younger brother of AA Chief of Staff, Aung Myat Kyaw, was recently arrested by Singapore government along with other Rakhine nationals from the Rakhine Association (Singapore) namely, Hein Zaw, Tun Aye, Tin Hlaing Oo and Aye Myat Mon, for allegedly financing the AA, recruiting for the AA and counterfeiting currency and then they were deported to Myanmar on July 11, 2019. They were all arrested by the Myanmar authorities when they arrived at Yangon International Airport.
Similarly the younger sister of AA Chief of Staff, Moe Hnin Phyu, and her spouse Kyaw Naing were arrested by the Myanmar authorities in connection with the case of the arrests of AA members along with explosives found in their possession in Mandalay on October 19, 2019.
Myanmar government registered all these persons under the anti-terrorism laws.
This time, Thai authorities arrested Hnin Zar Phyu, wife of AA Chief of Staff Tun Myat Naing, along with their two children on December 4 in Chiang Mai, Thailand and now the process for deportation and transferring to the Myanmar authorities is underway.
