Two men still missing after encounter with regime soldiers at Maungdaw Twsp checkpoint early this month

By DMG 12 Nov 2022

DMG Newsroom
12 November 2022, Maungdaw 

Family members are concerned about the fate of two men who went missing after being interrogated by junta soldiers at the military’s Kyee Kan Pyin security checkpoint in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, as the pair has not been seen or heard from in a week. 

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

The two men have been identified as Maung Hsan Htay, from Khamaungseik Village and Ko Khin Zaw, 22, from Mingalarnyunt Village, according to family members. 

“They left Maungdaw at about 1 p.m. They phoned me 30 minutes later saying they had arrived at the military’s security checkpoint in Kyee Kan Pyin Village,” said Daw Nu Than Yin, an elder sister of Ko Khin Zaw. “I haven’t been able to contact them since then. Residents in Kyee Kan Pyin Village said the two men are being interrogated at BGF headquarters.” 

The two men were seen handcuffed at the Kyee Kan Pyin BGF headquarters on November 5, she added. 

“Some residents in Kyee Kan Pyin Village saw two men handcuffed at the BGF headquarters at around 3 p.m. on November 5. I think they are being held and interrogated at the BGF headquarters,” she said. 

Daw Nu Than Yin added that family members of the two men dare not go to the BGF headquarters in Kyee Kan Pyin Village out of concern for their own safety. 

“We haven’t received any information about them [the two men]. My mother can’t eat or sleep,” she said. “We dare not go to the BGF headquarters in Kyee Kan Pyin Village for security reasons. I want the regime officials to inform us about their arrest.” 

Military and BGF personnel have been known to check the ID cards of pedestrians and travellers at the security checkpoint, a local resident said. 

“Passengers and pedestrians are often checked by junta soldiers and BGF members at the security checkpoint in Kyee Kan Pyin Village. I think the two men were detained by security personnel, but I don’t know where they are being held,” the resident added. 

DMG was unable to obtain comment from Arakan State Minister for Security and Border Affairs Colonel Kyaw Thura and military junta spokesman Major-General Zaw Min Tun regarding the matter. 

Myanmar military and BGF personnel also detained a woman and a motorcycle taxi driver at the Kyeinchaung security checkpoint in Maungdaw Township on November 1. A photographer from Sittwe went missing at a junta checkpoint in Kyauktaw on his return from Minbya to the Arakan State capital on Tuesday morning, though soldiers at the checkpoint denied detaining him.