The Burma Army arrested 104 Rohingya people without travel documents at a checkpoint in Pathein District, Irrawaddy Region.

“They entered illegally from Rakhine State and we are taking action against these migrants according to the law,”an official from the Irrawaddy Region Immigration Department told NMG.

According to locals, 57 men, 42 women and 5 minors were travelling in four trucks when they were intercepted at Yay Nantha checkpoint in Yay Kyi Township at 3pm on 27 May.

Police have charged the drivers, who are suspected of being paid to transport them from Gwa town in Rakhine State, to Yangon.

“They have no opportunities to own land or work, so they tried to move somewhere else,” said a person from the Social Association for Burmese Muslim. He explained that most Rohingya were born in Burma but have lost their rights as citizens and are only allowed to live in designated areas of Rakhine State.

Some speculated that escalating military tensions between the regime's forces and the Arakan Army could be a new driving force pushing some Rohingya to flee Rakhine State for the neighbouring Irrawaddy Region.

On 22 May, seventeen Rohingya were killed when their boat capsized in a storm in the Bay of Bengal. More than thirty people who survived the accident were rescued by the Shwe Thaung Yan Social Welfare Volunteer Team to Wet Thay beach in Shwe Thaung Yan town in Irrawaddy Region.