A deserter from the Burma Army was reportedly arrested by the Mizoram police from Lunglei police station, Mizoram state, northeast India.
 
The deserter Ko Shwe (name changed) was arrested by the Mizoram police near Bualpui village in Lunglei district on May 12 and was taken to Lunglei Jail, according to a local newspaper the 'Evening Post'.
 
On a tip-off from Burmese soldiers based in Chin state, Burma, Mizoram police were said to be looking for deserters in areas near the Indo- Burma border and found Ko Shwe.  
 
A police officer from Lunglei police station, however, denied the report that a Burmese deserter was being detained after Khonumthung's reporter contacted the police station.
 
"We did not arrest and detain any deserter from the Burma Army," the police officer said.
 
However, the local newspaper said that police also seized a US made carbine, three G-3 bullet boxes and 120 rounds from Ko Shwe.  
 
Ko Shwe (23) was said to have served in the Burma Army for three years. But it is not known yet from which military camp he fled to India.
 
According to the local paper, the deserter fled the army camp as he was at the end of his tether because of shortage of rations and the discrimination meted out by high ranking officials in the battalion.
 
In Burma near the Indo-Burma border, Burmese soldiers are looking for four deserters, a traveller from Chin state who arrived in Mizoram said.
 
 "We came across Burmese soldiers on the way to Mizoram and they asked us if we had seen four deserters," he added.
 
Mizoram armed police in Saiha district yesterday set off for the Indo-Burma border areas in search for the rest of the deserters, said a local in Saiha on condition of anonymity.