Junta searching for AA spokesman’s brother, neighbours say

By DMG 09 Sep 2022

DMG Newsroom
9 September 2022, Ann

Myanmar’s military regime is hunting for a brother of the Arakan Army (AA) spokesman U Khaing Thukha, according to his neighbours.

More than 20 junta troops came and searched the house of the AA spokesman’s younger brother U Maung Khin Win in Kywekutaung Village, Ann Township, on Wednesday. The soldiers took documents from his house, said a villager who wished to remain anonymous for safety concerns.

“They came to our village and stayed overnight. The next morning, they went to Ko Maung Khin Win’s house and took documents,” he told DMG.

The Myanmar military alleged that U Maung Khin Win is serving as a recruiter for the AA’s political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA), in Ann Township. Junta troops sealed off his house in Kywekutaung, and told villagers not to enter it.

The search came after a junta vehicle was attacked with mines between Talai Taung and Myeni villages near Kywekutaung on September 2, said residents.

Following the mine attack, junta troops detained the administrators of Kywekutaung and Tantin villages as well as a villager from Nyaungchaung who were only released on Thursday, according to residents.

A Talai Taung villager said: “After their vehicle came under mine attack between our village and Myeni Village, they entered villages and checked household certificates.”

DMG was unable to obtain comment from Arakan State Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Kyaw Thura about the alleged search for the AA spokesman’s brother.

In July 2019, the Myanmar military opened a case against U Khaing Thukha’s brother-in-law and two other residents for their alleged involvement in a mine attack against a Myanmar military convoy. The three were released as there was not sufficient evidence to bring prosecution.