A policeman was found to be carrying drugs when apprehended by a neighbourhood watch team in northern Shan State’s Namhkam on Friday.

A resident in the town of Namhkam told DVB the policeman was travelling on a motorbike with another local when he was stopped by the local security team on the evening of 23 January. He was taken to the town’s police station when he was found to be carrying heroin and amphetamine pills, commonly known by the Thai word ya-ba.

[related]

“Twenty-year-old police-private Thein Htay Aung, serial number La/240264, and another man named Sai Tun Hseng, 30, were caught with handcuffs, 97 ya-ba pills and half a bottle of heroin. They were stopped by a local patrol made up of youths and ward administration officers,” said the local.

“They were handed over to the police station on Friday morning.”

The Namhkam police authorities have promised that appropriate action will be brought against Thein Htay Maung. In the meantime, he and Sai Tun Hseng have been placed in stocks in a public area in the town.

Local neighbourhood watch members have been patrolling the streets of Namhkam in a bid to crack down on drug dealers and traffickers. This is the first time a policeman has been arrested for drug possession since the patrols began.