Teenager held since late September in Maungdaw Twsp

By DMG 04 Oct 2022

DMG Newsroom
4 October 2022, Maungdaw

Family members are concerned for the wellbeing of a 13-year-old from Arakan State’s Maungdaw Township who was detained five days ago.

Maung Sin Htaw from Laung Done Village has been held incommunicado since he was detained by police on September 29.

The eighth grader was working at a tea shop in Laung Done Village as schools have been temporarily closed due to fighting between the Myanmar military and the Arakan Army (AA).

He was returning from Maungdaw town with a colleague after buying supplies for the teashop when the two were stopped by police at a checkpoint at Yaykyaw Bridge.

The teenager was then taken to Ngan Chaung police outpost, said his mother Daw Paw Daw Debe, citing the accounts of witnesses.

“I still don’t know why he was arrested. His colleague was released, and only my son was detained,” she told DMG.

“My son is just 13, and I don’t understand why they have detained him for so long,” she added.

A community elder from Laung Done Village said: “He has been working at the teashop for more than a month, since schools were closed. He is a good kid.”

DMG was unable to obtain comment from the Ngan Chaung police outpost. Due to recent fighting in Maungdaw Township, locals in Laung Done Village have had to seek the approval of authorities at the Ngan Chaung police outpost in order to travel to other villages.

There are more than 100 households in Laung Done Village, where most residents’ livelihoods are farming-based.