Kyaukphyu tuk-tuk driver jailed for transporting food

By Admin 21 Aug 2024

DMG Newsroom
21 August 2024, Kyaukphyu

A junta court in Kyaukphyu Township, Arakan State, has sentenced a local tuk-tuk driver to one month in prison for transporting food.

U Khin Maung Win, the 40-year-old ethnically Maramagyi man, was arrested by junta soldiers while delivering food and consumer goods with his tuk-tuk to Kyaukphyu’s Zediya Ward on Sunday evening, according to a ward resident.

“There were foodstuffs and consumer goods on his tuk-tuk. He was arrested near the government technical college in Zediya Ward,” he said.

He was brought to trial at the Kyaukphyu Township Court on Wednesday, with the court handing down a sentence of one month in prison.

A friend of U Khin Maung Win said: “He was arrested for transporting food, and was also given a prison sentence for the same reason. We still don’t know the details.”

Since November of last year, the regime has imposed a ban on transporting food, medicines and consumer goods into and out of Kyaukphyu Town.

The regime has arrested at least 130 sellers for violating the ban. At least 10 of the detainees were reportedly given sentences ranging from one to three months in prison.

Though fighting has not yet taken place between the regime and the Arakkha Army (AA) in Kyaukphyu Township, the regime has imposed travel restrictions in the township, inflicting serious harm to the livelihoods and health of residents.