Neighbourhoods in Sittwe hiring night guards amid concern over rising crime

By DMG 04 Dec 2021

DMG Newsroom
4 December 2021, Sittwe

A series of thefts and robberies have taken place in the Arakan State capital Sittwe, with residents in some wards feeling compelled to hire nighttime guards to protect their neighbourhoods.

“Tents have been set up in some wards in Sittwe and night guards have been hired to safeguard the neighbourhoods as a series of thefts and robberies have been reported,” said U Tun Yin, an administrator of Kyaung Gyi Lan ward.

“Motorbike theft is increasing in wards in Sittwe. I hear reports of property being burgled in other wards every day. This is the reason why night guards are hired,” he told DMG.

U Aye Tun Kyaw, a member of the security committee in Kyaung Gyi Lan ward, blamed the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying economic downturn, as well as a rise in drug users, for the apparent increase in criminal activity.

“The deterioration of young people’s morals is linked to drug abuse. They have no money to spend and are doing it any way they can. They are not even afraid to kill and steal,” he said. “This is also a weakness of the relevant authorities.”

Similarly, the residents of Sittwe’s Ballon Kwin ward serve as night guards on a rotational basis to ensure the safety of the community.

Late last month in the state capital, five masked men broke into a warehouse in Oh Tan ward, stabbed a night guard and his wife, and made off with some belongings.

U Khaing Kaung San, director of the Sittwe-based Wan Lark Rural Development Foundation, said he wanted the concerned authorities to ensure the rule of law.

Five unidentified men broke into the home of a traditional medicine practitioner in Sittwe’s Set Yone Su ward and robbed him of seven ticals of gold and K5 million in cash on the night of September 17.

That same month, shopkeepers arrested a man who snatched the gold necklace of a woman who had come to Sittwe’s Myoma Market to buy food.

Ninety-eight cases of violent crime, robbery and theft, and similarly severe offences were reported in Arakan State from January to September of this year, according to the state police.