Four junta personnel desert in Maungdaw Twsp

By Admin 21 Jul 2023

DMG Newsroom
21 July 2023, Maungdaw

A Myanmar military private and three border guard policemen deserted this week in northern Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township, with the junta soldier being subsequently apprehended.

The three police officers, from a border guard outpost on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border in Taungpyo Letwe, fled while they were on patrol duty at around 6 a.m. on Thursday.

“A soldier from that outpost was recently arrested by the Myanmar military. Perhaps the three fled out of fear that they might be arrested too. They have probably crossed the border into Bangladesh, and it will be difficult to recover them,” said a resident of Mee Tike Village, which is located near the outpost.

On Tuesday, the Myanmar military detained constable Kyaw Myo Oo, a resident of Kyein Chaung Village, who was assigned to the said outpost, over his alleged ties to the Arakan Army (AA).

“I heard all three who had fled are ethnic Arakanese men,” said a resident of Taungpyo Letwe.

A junta private also deserted from an outpost near Jitchaung Village, northern Maungdaw Township, on Thursday morning. He was recaptured that evening.

“It seems that that soldier had been badly punished by his supervisors. We could hear him being beaten and screaming from our village. I heard that he was left to starve the whole night in the rain,” said a Jitchaung Village resident.

DMG was unable to obtain comment from Arakan State security and border affairs minister Colonel Kyaw Thura.

At least 14 junta soldiers and border guard police have deserted in Maungdaw, Rathedaung, Buthidaung townships since the latest ceasefire between the military and the AA was reached in November of last year, according to a DMG tally.