Youths detained at Maungdaw checkpoint released: Arakan military council spox

By DMG 31 Jan 2022

DMG Newsroom
31 January 2022, Maungdaw 

Some of the 31 detained youths who were arrested last week at Kyein Chaung checkpoint in Maungdaw Township were released on January 31, according to U Hla Thein, a spokesperson for the Arakan State regime council. 

“They were sent to their homes. Some of them are minors. I do not know how many of them were released, but I heard they are from different townships,” U Hla Thein said.  

According to some media reports, eight of them are from Kyaukphyu Township, but Police Captain Khin Maung Swe, head of Kyaukphyu Township police station, declined to confirm those reports.  

“No one arrived to us. We do not know about it,” he said.  

According to locals, the detained youths were from various parts of Arakan State and were in northern Maungdaw Township in search of work when they were arrested by Border Guard Force personnel on January 27. 

People from across Arakan State travel to work in the crabbing industry in northern Maungdaw Township villages such as Taungpyo, Nanthar Taung, Thinbawhla, Tamanthar and Aungthabyay. 

DMG received word that eight of those released on Monday are from Sanae in Kyaukphyu Township, but the Sanae village head did not confirm it. U Phoe San, a former Arakan State parliament MP for Kyaukphyu Township, also would not confirm the speculation. DMG is still attempting to get contact with the families of the eight people. 

Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura did not respond to enquiries from DMG seeking comment on the case. 

DMG phoned U Khaing Thukha, spokesperson for the Arakan Army (AA), and multiple others involved in peace and conflict dynamics in Arakan State, but they could not or would not provide clarity on the Kyein Chaung detainees’ case.