Soldiers Forcibly Demanded Money from Local Trader

08 May 2011: Soldiers from Burma Army Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 89 stationed in Darkhai village of Tonzang Township forcibly demanded 20,000 Kyats from a local trader from Tuilang village on 15 April 2011, according to Chin Human Rights Organisation’s sources.

The ‘unnamed’ Company Captain of Kalay-based LIB No. 89 and his five soldiers stopped the local trader in Fartlang village of Tedim Township while he was travelling with 20 horses carrying general commodities toward Mizoram State in India.

“I was asked to give 20,000 Kyats as I was accused of trading illegally between Burma and India,” said the trader, whose name is kept private for security reasons.

Five soldiers were put on duty along the trading roads between Tonzang and Mizoram, and Tedim Township and Mizoram to forcibly demand money from the traders, according to the locals.

The locals said that eighteen soliders of Kalay-Based Burma Army LIB No. 89 arrived in Darkhai military camp in Tonzang Township on 13 April 2011 but the name of the Company Captain has not been known.

©Chinland Guardian