Chinese minister meets 300 rescued from cyber scams in Karen State
Chinese Assistant Public Security Minister Liu Zhongyi met with around 300 people, mostly from China, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Kenya and Rwanda, in Myawaddy Township of Karen State on Monday. They were reportedly rescued from Shwe Kokko, which is located 15 miles (24 km) north of Myawaddy along the Burma-Thailand border.
Shwe Kokko is under the control of the Karen Border Guard Force (BGF). “We have pledged to exile all those who operate scams on our soil,” Naing Maung Zaw, the BGF spokesperson, told AFP on Saturday. Liu Zhongyi visited a BGF command center to learn how assistance is being provided to those awaiting transfer across the river into Thailand.
The minister is expected to return to China with a group of about 600 Chinese nationals who were released from cyber scam centers in Myawaddy after the most recent raids. In an interview with DVB, BGF leader Saw Chit Thu pledged to eradicate human trafficking and forced labour at cyber scam centers in BGF-controlled areas of Myawaddy, including Shwe Kokko.
Two Myanmar nationals arrested with explosives in India
Police in India’s northeastern Mizoram State, in collaboration with the paramilitary force Assam Rifles, arrested two Burma nationals on a motorcycle for allegedly transporting 3,000 electric detonators, 700 meters of cordtex, and other “war-like” supplies, on Sunday, India’s NDTV reported. The suspects are accused of smuggling explosive materials from India to Burma.
An Indian defence spokesperson told media that Mizoram police and the Assam Rifles conducted a joint operation after receiving information from an informant regarding the presence of explosives and other related items in the Vokte Kai area of Zokhawtar, a border town in Champhai district of Mizoram. This is the second such incident in the past two weeks, NDTV added.
On Feb. 3, the Assam Rifles and Mizoram police intercepted two vehicles, arrested two people, and seized 800 detonators and 2,000 gelatine sticks on the Aizawl-Sairang Road in Mizoram. They did not disclose the nationalities of those detained. Six Mizoram districts—Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip—share a 316-mile (510 km) border with Burma’s Chinland.
Karen National Liberation Army seizes three regime checkpoints
The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and its allied resistance forces seized three checkpoints under regime control from the Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 560 in Kyaukkyi (Laedo) Township of Nyaunglebin District, Bago Region, on Saturday. Kyaukkyi is located 109 miles (175 km) north of the regional capital Bago. It is in Karen National Union (KNU) Brigade 3 territory.
“The military’s checkpoints were making it difficult for the people to travel. That’s why the revolutionary forces launched an attack and seized them at midnight,” Padoh Saw Wah Mu, the KNU spokesperson for Kyaukkyi Township, told the Karen Information Center (KIC). The checkpoints were located in Naywebin village, between Tawwi and Hteintabin villages, and outside of a monastery near Kyungon village.
The KNU claimed that six regime troops were killed and an unknown number were injured during the offensive to seize the three checkpoints. The KNLA-led forces seized five small arms, a 60-mm commando mortar, and ammunition, from the LIB 560. On Jan. 3, KNLA-led forces captured the Mutel camp on the Kyaukkyi-Mutel road in Bago’s Nyaunglebin District, which had been used by the military as a logistics hub.
News by Region
MANDALAY—The Burma Air Force carried out two airstrikes on Bogon and Sitaikan villages, which are controlled by the People’s Defense Force (PDF) in the eastern part of Madaya Township on Sunday. This forced many residents to flee their homes. Madaya is located 24 miles (39 km) north of Mandalay city.
“The military launched airstrikes and offensives on the areas we control. No one from our side was injured. We don’t know how many civilian casualties there were,” a PDF member told DVB. Residents said that the military launched a counter offensive against the PDF to recapture lost territory in Madaya last week.
MAGWAY—The Salin People’s Administration stated that the military has burned down over 100 homes in Ontaw village of Salin Township since Feb. 9. It added that 1,200 residents displaced from their homes received assistance from the National Unity Government (NUG). Salin is located 46 miles (74 km) north of the regional capital Magway.
“Ontaw village suffered significant damage, with over 100 homes destroyed according to our records—almost the entire village. As residents fled, the soldiers looted houses and burned them [down],” a PDF spokesperson told DVB. On Feb. 10, airstrikes were carried out on the PDF office and its ammunition depot.
SAGAING—Sagaing Township residents told DVB that two people were injured by twin explosions at the general hospital and at a highway bus station on Saturday. Sagaing is located 10 miles (16 km) south of the city of Mandalay and 67 miles (107 km) east of the regional capital Monywa.
“Two bombs exploded a few minutes apart. The one that exploded at the hospital injured people but there were no [confirmed] fatalities,” a source from a local charity group told DVB on the condition of anonymity. No group has claimed responsibility for planting the bombs which led to the explosions.
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