Two Sittwe men arrested over discovery of illegal cigarettes at Maungdaw checkpoint

By Admin 14 Aug 2023

DMG Newsroom
14 August 2023, Maungdaw

Two men from Sittwe were arrested and their vehicle was confiscated after it was found to be transporting illegal duty-free cigarettes at the 3rd-mile security checkpoint in Maungdaw, Arakan State.

Hundreds of cartons of illegal, Chinese-made ORIS cigarettes worth K65 million were seized from a six-wheeled vehicle driving toward Maungdaw along the Maungdaw-Angumaw road on August 13, reported Rakhine Daily, a mouthpiece of the Arakan State military council.

The two arrestees have been identified as U Than Win, 34, from Ohntapin Ward and U Tun Tun, 38, from Ywagyimrauk Ward in Sittwe.

“A cargo truck was confiscated and the vehicle was parked in front of the police station. I don’t know why the truck was confiscated,” said a truck driver plying a route between Maungdaw and Angumaw.

“The owner of the duty-free cigarettes is U A Karam (b) AK from Myomataung Ward in Maungdaw. The junta’s border guard police went to his house to arrest him, but he managed to escape from the scene,” the driver added.

“I saw the border guard police coming to his home [the owner of the cigarettes]. They didn’t find him. The cigarettes were for sale in the shops,” said a Muslim man from Myomataung Ward in Maungdaw.

The two detainees and owner of the duty-free cigarettes have been charged — the latter in absentia — under Section 8 of the Export and Import Law, Rakhine Daily reported.