Maungdaw, Arakan State: An private businessman, who runs a logging company, is collecting money from Rohingya laborers breaking stone into pebbles on the Mayu mountain range in Maungdaw, according to Kala Meah, a pebble breaker from Maungdaw.
The man is identified by an NGO staff member from Maungdaw as, Htun Myint Thein, owner of Meko, a logging company.
The source said, “He is collecting money from poor people breaking stone from morning to evening for their survival for General Engineer Corp (GE) which is constructing a road in Maungdaw.”
The agent collects 4000 kyat, under the authority of the Burmese border security force’s Director, Lt.Col. Aung Gyi, the co-partner in the logging business, from each truck which loads the pebbles, according to local sources.
It takes three Rohingya laborers one week to load a truck with pebbles, for which they receive 18000 kyat ($31 USD), according to a local environmental watchdog, from Maungdaw.
“How can they survive after giving 4000 kyats to the agent and 5000 kyats to hire the truck?” he asked.
