Taungup youth activist to appear in court Dec. 28 over alleged financing of PDF: family

By DMG 18 Dec 2021

DMG Newsroom
18 December, 2021 

The chairman of the Taungup Township Youth Network, who was arrested this week and accused of having ties to the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF), will appear in court for the first time on December 28, according to his family.  

Ko Min Ko Oo was detained on December 14 over allegations that he has provided funding to the PDF, and has been charged under Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. 

“The head of the Taungup police station, U Zaw Latt, told us that the case against Min Ko Oo was opened from Naypyidaw under Section 50(j) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. We don’t know who the complainant is,” said Ko Min Ko Oo’s father, U Khin Maung Sein. 

Ko Min Ko Oo’s phone and laptop were also seized during his arrest.  

DMG attempted to contact the Taungup Township police station to learn more about the arrest of Ko Min Ko Oo and the case against him, but no one there could be reached for comment. 

Some members of the Taungup Township Youth Network are on the run following the arrest of their chairman. 

At least nine people — five women and four men — have been arrested in Arakan State on allegations of having ties to the PDF, a network of militias closely tied to the exiled National Unity Government (NUG). 

The other eight detainees are U Sein Chit, Ma Tin Sandar Win and Daw San Cho Theik from Thandwe; U Ye Naing Oo and Ma Nyein Ei Phyu from Ngapali; Ko Min Di Par aka Aung Naing Myint, a writer from Mrauk-U Township; Daw Cherry Thet Shay, a high school teacher in Taungup; and Ma Aye Myint Myat Aung, a university student in Kyaukphyu.