Military detains woman and motorbike taxi driver at Maungdaw security checkpoint

By DMG 06 Nov 2022

DMG Newsroom
6 November 2022, Maungdaw

Myanmar military and Border Guard Force (BGF) personnel detained a woman and a motorcycle taxi driver at the Kyeinchaung security checkpoint in Maungdaw, Arakan State, on November 1, and the pair have not been in contact with their families since.

The detainees have been identified as Ma Aye Mya Sandar, 25, from Pyainetaung Village in Minbya Township, and Maung Maung Kyaw, a motorcycle taxi driver from Aungthaphwe Village. Ma Aye Mya Sandar was visiting her relatives in northern Maungdaw Township’s Mingalarnyunt Village at the time of the encounter with security personnel.

Ma Aye Mya Sandar was arrested at the security checkpoint after she had hired Maung Maung Kyaw’s motorbike to travel to Maungdaw town from Mingalarnyunt Village, her younger brother Ko Myoe Nyein Chan told DMG.

“My sister went to Mingalarnyunt Village as my relatives there asked for financial assistance ahead of the Full Moon Day of Thadingyut,” he explained. “She hired a motorbike taxi to go to Maungdaw and they were arrested at Kyeinchaung security checkpoint, said my relatives. I don’t know where they are being detained.”

Family members are worried about the safety of the two detainees, he added.

“We are concerned that she will be beaten and tortured by the junta soldiers. We have not been in contact with her since her arrest,” he said.

DMG phoned Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura for comment on the matter, but he could not be reached.

Security affairs officials from the Myanmar military also abducted the abbot of a village monastery in Maungdaw Township on Friday night.

Maungdaw Township residents are on edge as a series of arrests and abductions have taken place over recent weeks, with both Myanmar’s military regime and the Arakan Army (AA) taking people into custody.

Since August, the two sides have been actively engaged in armed hostilities across multiple Arakan State townships, as well as in neighbouring Paletwa Township, Chin State.