Five workers from a New Mon State Party (NMSP) owned sheep farm on Kaw Kun Lon Island in Ye Township who were detained by the Burma Navy were released on 17 May according to their families.
Two residents of Andin Village and three migrant workers, who were working on the sheep farm on Kaw Kun Lon Island in the west of Andin Village in Ye Township, were taken by the Burma Navy on 15 May and detained at the Military Operations Command 19 (MOC-19) base in Ye.
Nai Maung Shin, the father of one of the detained men, Nai Min Zaw, said: “We still don’t know why they were detained. We have learned that they were released at 4 pm this evening [17 May].”
He also said that the NMSP liaison officer from Ye had to sign papers confirming that the detained men were honest and were employed by the NMSP to work on the sheep farm.
An NMSP official from Dawei District confirmed to I.M.N.A. that the men had been detained, but he said that he did not know why they had been detained.
The Andin Village Group Administrator Nai Tint Shaung said: “It is true that five men from the village disappeared, but we didn’t report it to the police. When we tried to find out [about their disappearance] we learned that they were taken by the navy.”
He also added that the NMSP has been granted permission to operate on Kaw Kun Lon Island for 30 years.
I.M.N.A. has also heard that three NMSP members and some villagers helping the NMSP were recently detained in Ye Township, but they were unable to receive confirmation of this from the NMSP before going to press.
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
