The head of Maungdaw District Traffic Police, Thaung Htay, has been applying traffic law differently to Buddhist Rakhines and Muslim Rohingyas since the beginning of September, according to Halim a human rights watchdog from Maungdaw.
Halim said that Officer Thaung Htay has been letting off Rakhines who break traffic laws while fining any Rohingyas he catches breaking traffic laws.
According to a traffic officer who did not wish to be named 60 unregistered vehicles have been stopped in Maungdaw by Officer Thaung Htay. Of those vehicles, 40 were owned by Rakhines and 20 were owned by Rohingyas. Officer Thaung Htay demanded 400,000 kyats for each unregistered Rohingya vehicle, but he did not charge any of the Rakhines who had unregistered vehicles. He has since asked the 20 Rohingya for 100,000 kyats more each.
If these fines for unregistered vehicles are legal why didn't Officer Thaung Htay also collect them from Rakhines, asked a Rohingya vehicle owner who did not want to be named.
According to Haroon, a motorcycle owner, since the first week of September Officer Thaung Htay has also collected 20,000 kyats each from 100 Rohingya motorcyclists, whereas he only gave Rakhine motorcyclists a warning and did not fine them.
Anis, a trader from Maungdaw said that Officer Thaung Htay seized 20 motorcycles from Rohingyas for traffic violations, which meant that the owners then had to go to court and pay 15,000 kyats to have their motorcycles released.
Edited in English by Mark inkey for BNI
