17 more Muslims heading to Malaysia arrested in Gwa Twsp

By DMG 05 Sep 2022

DMG Newsroom
5 September 5, 2022 

Seventeen Muslims attempting to leave Arakan State for work opportunities in Malaysia were arrested by junta authorities in Gwa Township on Sunday. 

The 12 men and five women were detained in Ya Hine Wun village, according to a local village administrator. 

“We only learned about it after they were arrested,” said the village administrator. “The military and other officials made checks in response to a tip-off, and they spotted Muslims on a truck. They are now being detained at the Gwa Township police station.” 

The Muslims were hiding behind sacks of bottles on the truck. The truck’s driver and two conductors were also detained, according to the Facebook page of Rakhine Daily, a regime mouthpiece covering events in Arakan State. 

Three brokers involved in sending the Muslims to Yangon were also detained in Gwa following interrogations of the driver and conductors. 

Looking to work in Malaysia, the Muslims agreed to pay K7 million each to the brokers, and journeyed from their villages to Sittwe, and then to Gwa by boat, according to Rakhine Daily. From there, they were headed to Yangon by truck when they were intercepted and arrested on Sunday. 

Seven of the Muslims will be charged under Myanmar’s Immigration Act, and six individuals involved in transporting them have been charged under the Penal Code. 

Nineteen Muslims were also detained in the forest near Daunt Chaung village in Gwa Township on Friday.  

Despite widespread communal strife between Arakan State’s Muslim and Arakanese communities in 2012, relations have improved in recent years and so have conditions for Muslims, to an extent. Muslims now work freely in Sittwe, Minbya and other townships, however, they are still denied full freedom of movement, and those attempting to travel beyond Arakan State have been consistently arrested under successive governments. 

“Muslims have been persecuted more than Arakanese people,” said Manaung resident Ko Aung Myint Thu. “They have never been able to travel freely. They are being forced by circumstances to leavs. People from other parts of the country are also going overseas [to work]. So, Muslims should also be allowed to go.”