Arakan Army reportedly detains police sergeant in Mrauk-U Twsp

By DMG 17 Jun 2022

DMG Newsroom
17 June 2022, Mrauk-U  

Members of the Arakan Army (AA) detained a policeman from a police outpost in Tinnyo village in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township at around 7 a.m. on Friday, according to locals. 

The detainee, a police sergeant from the Tinnyo police outpost, was handcuffed and taken away by AA members at a bus station in Tinnyo village, a local resident said on condition of anonymity. 

“The detainee is an old policeman. He always came to the bus station to drink liquor. He was handcuffed and taken away by AA members on a motorbike. After his arrest, some policemen came to the bus station to search for him,” a villager told DMG. 

“The policeman detained by AA is a police clerk from Tinnyo police outpost. AA members tried to arrest two policemen at Tinnyo bus station, one of whom escaped for various reasons,” the unnamed resident added. 

“We have not been able to confirm that news yet. We don’t know exactly for sure if he escaped or was arrested by AA,” said a police source in Mrauk-U. 

DMG attempted to contact Khaing Thukha, spokesman for the Arakan Army, for comment on the matter, but he could not be reached. 

Two members of the Myanmar military were arrested by the AA in Kyauktaw on June 11. The AA says the Myanmar military has raided the homes of some ULA/AA members during the night so the ethnic armed group arrested some Myanmar military personnel. 

“If some AA members arrested by the Myanmar military were released, the ethnic armed group would release detained Myanmar army soldiers. Some Myanmar military officers are among those arrested by the Arakan Army. We arrested some Myanmar army soldiers because some AA members were arrested by the Myanmar military,” he said at an AA conference on June 14, the third of its kind so far this year. 

A former head of the Tinnyo police outpost was shot dead by an unidentified gunman at a restaurant in the village on March 22, 2019. 

The Arakan Army also arrested a junta soldier near the Sanpya ward administrator’s office in Ponnagyun Township on June 16, according to residents.