Junta soldiers at Taungup checkpoint extort money from locals

By Admin 17 Sep 2024

DMG Newsroom
17 September 2024, Taungup

Junta soldiers at a security checkpoint near the University of Taungup in Taungup, Arakan State, are reportedly extorting money from passersby.

Junta soldiers at the checkpoint forcibly collected K400,000 in extortion money from two men on Saturday.

“The two men went to some villages on the outskirts of Taungup to buy betel leaf on September 14. They reportedly brought K500,000 and junta soldiers conducted security checks on the two men. Junta soldiers forcibly took K400,000 from the two men,” said a resident of Taungup.

In recent days, a young man and a woman from a village near Taungup were checked by junta soldiers at the security checkpoint on their way to Taungup by motorbike. The couple had to pay K250,000 to junta soldiers at the checkpoint, said a resident of Taungup.

“The junta soldiers told the woman that if she wanted the money back, she would have to stay with them for three hours. The woman came back crying in shame,” the Taungup resident added.

Regime soldiers have been deployed at Taungup University since the last week of June. 

The Myanmar military has also deployed soldiers at the township General Administration Department office, police station, Kaingshae Bridge, townhall, immigration office and agriculture office in Taungup, as well as at monasteries and Taungup’s entry points.  

Tensions between the military and AA are running high in Taungup, with the regime sending reinforcements to the area and the AA surrounding the town.