New armed group tortures and extorts money from villagers

February 1, 2022

HURFOM: According to the local sources, a new armed group has emerged in Southern Ye Township, Mon State.

A local source confirmed to HURFOM, that the group is known only as MMA have tortured and extorted money from villagers.

“They said their group’s name was MMA and they have about 15 or 16 members. They are fully equipped with weapons. They’re active in the area but have not been here for very long, but already extorted thousand of kyat from the villagers and they have also tortured some villagers. But we’ve never heard that they fought with the Burmese army. What they do is just extortion,” said a resident from Han Gam village, Ye Township.

The conduct of the MMA group has been a popular topic on social media with users strongly criticizing what they have done to the local people.

On January 27, 2022, a video clip of the MMA was spread on social media and in that video, the group treated a villager horribly. The villager was arrested by the group for possession of a small amount of Kratom leaves.

“Just a small amount of Kratom leaves were found in the villagers’ possession. These days, every house has Kratom leaves. But they (MMA) exaggerated the issue and arrested and treated him like a big criminal. Why is there an armed group here? They just made trouble for the villagers. They extort money from the villagers and make the people depressed,” said a Mon affairs activist from Southern Ye.

Since the coup, political instability has spread across the country and there are many new armed groups emerging in Southern Ye. Some groups oppose the dictatorship while some are just extorting and torturing villagers.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News