Three Buthidaung villagers go missing

By DMG 14 Apr 2021

DMG Newsroom
14 April 2021, Buthidaung

Three villagers from Arakan State’s Buthidaung Township have been missing for nearly a week, according to local residents.

The three men — U Maung Maung Than, 48, U Zaw Aung Than, 35, and U Aung Naing Htay, 35 — from the village of Akarpyan went to the Mayu mountain range in the early morning hours of April 8 to forage for food, and have been missing since then, according to fellow villagers.

“They have gone missing since April 8, and they still can’t be located. They reportedly went to the Mayu mountain range frequently to catch fish and frogs. Villagers are searching for them,” said the chairman of the Buthidaung Township Administration Council, U Shwe Hla Aung.

Akarpyan village lies just over a mile from the foot of the Mayu mountains, and has a population of nearly 300 people.

Ko Awin Chay, who has been part of the search parties assembled following the three men’s disappearance, said: “Around 40 villagers looked for them, and on the way, we came upon a gun-wielding Muslim in black clothes running away. Senior villagers told us not to go forward because it might be dangerous. So, we came back.”

Some villagers believe that the three missing men are being held by an armed group; there being multiple militant forces with presences in the region.

In January, two villagers from Aung Thukha village in Maungdaw Township were briefly detained and beaten by an armed group while they were going to the Mayu mountain range to collect bamboo. The two required treatment at a hospital for their injuries.