Twenty one Thai phone owners arrested in Karen State

July 16, 2007

The Mon Forum

Over the past two weeks, local Burmese military authorities in Karen State have arrested 21 owners of Thai-wireless telephones in Zarthapyin village, Hpa-an Township, near Moulmein (Mawlamyine).

“We don’t know why they arrested these 21 people,” said a Zarthapyin villager.

“On July 1st, they asked local telephone owners whether they wanted to pay a fine or to be jailed,” said a source who attended the meeting between the local authorities and the phone owners.

“They identified themselves as local, government groups and arrested them,” he continued. The arrested people have been sent to Hpa-an jail, but there has been no word as to what has happened to them since.

Seizures of arrested people’s telephone have been going on since the beginning of this year. Around Mon State’s Mudon Township, more than 30 Thai-wireless phones have been confiscated by the local authorities over the last two months.

Hundreds of people are still using Thai-wireless phones in Mon State, some with the permission of cease-fire groups. Telephone owners pay thousands of Kyat in tax to local military authorities and ethnic cease-fire groups in order to be allowed to use the phones.

Dealing in wireless phones has become a big business in southern Burma, the area where a large number of migrant workers in Thailand hail from. Migrant workers tend to use these phones because they provide cheaper service.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News