An imposter posing as a member of the Chin National Army (CNA) was arrested by the Burmese Army while he was collecting money from local people in Chin State with an accomplice on November 5.
The two CNA imposters have been identified as Thang Kim from Lente Village in Falam Township and Sui Za Thang from Hmawngtlang Village in Than Tlang Township, Chin State. Sui Za Thang escaped, while Thang Kim was arrested by soldiers of Light Infantry Battalion No. 274 based in Cikha Sub-township.
"The CNA has stopped collecting taxes, so the local people easily identified that the two men were not from the CNA and informed the army. But one man escaped," said a local from Cikha.
The imposters collected at least 200 Kyats from each household in Haicin Village, citing operational costs as the reason for the collection. The local people informed the army and one imposter was arrested.
It is learnt that Sui Za Thang has been based in Mizoram State, northeast India, as a migrant worker with his family for the last few years, but he recently separated from his wife. Some local people believe he will seek refuge in Mizoram.
The CNA announced in 2005 that the group had stopped collecting money from Chin people following the famine in Chin State.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced in July 2011 that Chin State remains the poorest state among Burma’s fourteen divisions and states with 73.3% per cent of the population living in poverty.
