Arakan Army soldiers extort rice, pig from Chin villagers
26 January 2016 — Soldiers of the Arakan Army extorted ten bags of rice (1 rice bag weighs about 50kg) and killed one pig belonging to Tetchaung villagers in Paletwa township last Thursday.
A group of 47 AA soldiers arrived in the village around 12 noon, took the rice bags by force, shot the pig dead and left around 3pm on the same day, according to the Khumi Media Group.
The local media reported that the group had arrested five villagers and used them for their guide as they had headed towards Ngwetaung village.
They threatened that their village would be burned to ashes if the Burma Army were informed of their arrival.
Ai Thang (name changed for security reasons) told the Chinland Guardian that the Burma Army Light Infantry Battalions No. 540, No. 377 and No. 378 based in Tantaung-wa village had somehow already known about the incident.
“We heard that the Burma Army soldiers went to the village in an attempt to chase after the AA members and that they gave 200,000 kyats to the villagers as they lost their rice and pig,” said Thang.
A Tetchaung resident said in the Chin World Media that the AA soldiers had entered all the houses, ordered all the villagers to gather at the football pitch, cut off the phone lines and extorted all the phones.#