Dozens of gold bars, K200 million seized from rickshaw at Maungdaw checkpoint

By DMG 16 Aug 2021

DMG Newsroom
16 August 2021, Maungdaw

Dozens of gold bars and K200 million ($122,000) in cash were confiscated at a checkpoint in Maungdaw town, Arakan State, after they were found being transported by a rickshaw on Sunday afternoon.

A police officer who did not want to reveal his name told DMG that a joint team stopped the suspected rickshaw based on a tipoff, and an inspection of the vehicle turned up 39 gold bars, each weighing 10 ticals, and K200 million in cash.

Police Captain Myint Kyaw Oo, head of the Maungdaw Township police station, confirmed the seizure.

“Gold bars and cash were seized yesterday. A case has been opened against a person under Section 8 of the Export and Import Law,” he said.

The purported owner of the gold and money was remanded into custody on August 16 by the Maungdaw Township Court, he added.

The driver of the rickshaw from Tharsi village, about 3 miles from Maungdaw town, said the gold and money were owned by U Tun Thar Sein, who was following the rickshaw on his motorbike when its cargo was seized, according to the police report.

U Tun Thar Sein told police he is a manager of Arakkha Byarla Company, which has interests in Yangon and Maungdaw, and that he was transporting the money and gold bars to spend on company operations, the report said.

U Tun Thar Sein reportedly said the gold bars were being used as a store of value because it would have been impractical to carry the equivalent in cash. He told police he planned to sell the gold bars for kyats in Mrauk-U.