Families unable to visit two detained Sittwe village administrators 

By DMG 06 May 2022

DMG Newsroom
6 May 2022, Sittwe  

Family members say they have not yet been allowed to see two village administrators from Sittwe who were detained on Wednesday. 

Military and police personnel took U Robby, the administrator of Bawdupa Muslim village and U Tun Hla Sein from Kyet Kaing Tan village from their homes on Wednesday night, according to a family member of U Tun Hla Sein. 

“They are being held at Sittwe No. 1 police station,” said the family member, who said U Tun Hla Sein suffers from high blood pressure and diabetes. “We are not allowed to see them. We don’t know why they were detained. Soldiers took them for questioning. We are concerned.” 

Myanmar’s military detained seven Muslims and an Arakanese village administrator from Sittwe on May 3 and May 4, and released six of the Muslims on Thursday. 

“We were released yesterday. They asked us how much we paid the government for the butcher licence at the auction, and how many butcher licences we have. They didn’t beat us,” said a Muslim man who was released on Thursday. 

When asked by DMG about the detained administrators, a police officer on duty from the Arakan State police force said he had no knowledge of their detention. 

DMG was unable to contact Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura for comment. 

On April 9, the military detained two Muslim 100-household heads from Aung Dine village-tract in Sittwe, releasing the pair the next day.