Families unable to contact student, taxi driver detained at Maungdaw checkpoint and missing for weeks

By DMG 25 Nov 2022

DMG Newsroom
25 November 2022, Maungdaw 

Family members are worried about the well-being of a university student and a motorcycle taxi driver who were detained at the Kyeinchaung security checkpoint in Maungdaw, Arakan State, on November 1, as they have not been in contact with the pair for nearly a month. 

The detainees have been identified as Ma Aye Mya Sandar, 25, from Pyainetaung Village in Minbya Township, and Maung Maung Kyaw, a motorcycle taxi driver from Aungthaphwe Village. Ma Aye Mya Sandar was visiting her relatives in northern Maungdaw Township’s Mingalarnyunt Village at the time of the encounter with security personnel. 

“She has been detained for about a month, but her whereabouts remain unknown,” said Ko Myoe Nyein Chan, the younger brother of Ma Aye Mya San Dar. “I went to the Kyeinchaung security checkpoint to inquire about her; they [junta soldiers] told me that she was not there. They have yet to inform me about my sister although I have submitted a letter to the Border Guard Force.” 

Ma Aye Mya Sandar had hired Maung Maung Kyaw to take her to Maungdaw town after visiting her family in Mingalarnyunt Village, and the pair were arrested at the Kyeinchaung security checkpoint. 

“We are concerned for her safety,” Ko Myoe Nyein Chan said. “If she is really guilty, she should be tried publicly, in accordance with the law. There’s been no transparency in her arrest. The military junta didn’t release any statement or inform our parents regarding my sister’s arrest.” 

DMG attempted to contact Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura for comment on the matter, but he could not be reached. 

Two men also went missing after they were questioned by soldiers and members of the Border Guard Force at the Kyee Kan Pyin checkpoint while travelling to Khamaungseik Village from the town of Maungdaw on November 1. 

Fierce fighting between the military and Arakan Army (AA) is ongoing across much of Arakan State, with junta troops making frequent arrests of local people. A portion of those arrested have been released, while most of them remain behind bars, in some cases for several months.