A drug gang beat Burmese Police after they arrested a major drug dealer of the Indawgyi area of Kachin State with alleged connections to high-ranking Burma Army officers.
Officers from Mohnyin Township Police Force and Naypyidaw Anti-Narcotic Task Force arrested U Aung Kyaw Win in possession of 117.4 gram of opium, 2,985 amphetamine tablets, and over 1.7 million kyats in Mai Naung Village on 18 September.
It is rumoured that U Aung Kyaw Win is the second largest drug trafficker in the Indawgyi area. Local residents claim that he and his gang have bribed Burma Army officers from the rank of captain up to the commander of the Burma Army’s Northern Command.
After U Aung Kyaw Win’s arrest his son, Kyaw Thu Win and around 20 villagers attacked the police according to the leaders of Pat Jasan (PJS), a community-based Kachin drug elimination team.
Local residents told KNG that the drug gang badly beat up the police and took a gun and two hand grenades from them.
The injured police officers are currently receiving treatment at Mohnyin Hospital.
Local PJS teams allege that Shanni (Red Shan) people’s militias backed by the army have been dealing drugs in Mogaung and Hpakant townships.
The police are investigating drug traffickers with alleged ties to the Burma Army to see if they can arrest them and charge them with ‘causing injury to civil servants’ and ‘illegal arms possession’.
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
