Junta police in the Mon State capital of Mawlamyine City are planting drugs on people and framing them in other ways in order to extort money from them.

One way they have been doing this is by planting drugs in the luggage space under motorcycle seats during checks to frame the motorcycle owner, according to sources familiar with the situation..

One source said: “The police extort money through various means, one of the primary methods is when they inspect motorbike storage compartments. During these inspections, they secretly plant drug tablets and falsely claim that they belong to the motorcycle owner. Motorbike taxi drivers are often targeted by this scheme. To avoid arrest, they are forced to pay between 1.5 million and 2 million MMK to the police; otherwise, they face criminal charges.”

With the police framing and extorting people, Mawlamyine City residents are becoming increasingly fearful of even just moving about the city. As it is the police extorting people there is no way to hold them to account.

Those who are framed and released after paying money are also warned by the police not to tell anyone about what happened and are threatened with being arrested, charged and imprisoned if they do.

An ex police officer said that framing and extorting people in this way is a common police tactic, but it has been happening a lot more since the coup.

As well as inspecting and framing motorcycle owners, the police are also carrying out surprise checks in downtown areas and reviewing overnight guest list registrations in areas of Mawlamyine City where migrant workers mostly reside. They are using these inspections as another way to extort money.

Though the police use the pretext of security to carry out daily checks in Mawlamyine City, they rarely find or apprehend anyone responsible for the increasing number of thefts, robberies and other crimes occurring in the city.