The junta has arrested the abbot of a monastery and six local men in Auksu Village, Lemyethna Township, Ayeyarwady Region, accusing them of supporting the People’s Defence Force (PDF), according to the locals.

On August 1, the junta arrested the abbot, accusing him of providing shelter to resistance members at his monastery, and detained six villagers for allegedly having ties to the PDF.

“The soldiers forced the abbot to relinquish his monkhood immediately before taking him away. According to the rules, they must get permission from the chairman of the Township Sangha (monkish) Organization to arrest a monk, but in this case, they made the arrest without any permit. They also detained six villagers, accusing them of having ties to the PDF. The current whereabouts and condition of those arrested remain unknown,” said a Lemyethna Township resident.

The arrested abbot is of Arakan (Rakhine) ethnicity and had been providing shelter and care to displaced people fleeing the war in Arakan State and clashes in Lemyethna Township, who had taken refuge in his monastery.

The villagers of Auksu insisted that neither the abbot nor the six arrested men had any ties to any armed groups.

“The abbot was just doing what he could to help displaced people, that’s all. But the junta’s informers gave the soldiers false information, saying he was supporting the resistance, that’s why they arrested him. Right now, people have to be really careful about everything they do or say in Ayeyarwady Region,” another Lemyethna Township resident told DMG.

Since the Arakan Army (AA) began military operations in collaboration with local resistance forces in Ayeyarwady Region, which borders southern Arakan State, the junta has started arresting and imprisoning displaced Arakan people and locals there, accusing them of supporting the resistance.

The AA is conducting operations in Ayeyarwady Region’s townships of Lemyethna, Ingapu, Thabaung, Yegyi, and Pathein, working alongside the Ayeyarwady Region-based PDF faction, AYA PDF.