Mon State Hluttaw Security Officer Kidnapped While Visiting Pagoda, Forced to Work as Fisher

Mawlamyine, June 21 – A police officer assigned to security at the Mon State Hluttaw under the junta government was kidnapped by three men with the intention of selling him as a fisherman, according to reports. Police Officer Zaw Win Htun, who was on security duty at the Mon State Hluttaw, went to visit the Naga Maw Pagoda on Taung Yoe Tan in Mawlamyine city around 4:30 PM on June 19. While he was sitting alone on the terrace, three unidentified men arrived, punched him in the face, and forcibly took him to Kyaukphyu town in Thanbyuzayat Township, according to the victim's statement. Although Police Officer Zaw Win Htun told them he was a police officer and could not go with them, one of the three men said, "What police? I am a Major," and punched him twice in the face before forcibly restraining and taking him away. They took him to Kyaukphyu town by motorcycle and, around 8 PM, delivered him to the house of Ma Tin Zar Lwin, a fisherman broker in Kyaukphyu town. Subsequently, when the man claiming to be a Major and his group demanded an advance payment of 1.2 million Kyats, Ma Tin Zar Lwin noticed that the situation was not normal and took Police Officer Zaw Win Htun to the Kyaukphyu Township Police Station to report the incident. "The broker woman came to report to the police station because she sensed something was wrong. It was only then that it was known that the person who was kidnapped was a police officer, and he was released," a source close to the police told the Irrawaddy Times. Later, around 8:45 PM, the station chief and his team from the Kyaukphyu Township Police Station went to the house of fisherman broker Ma Tin Zar Lwin to investigate and found and arrested the three individuals who had conspired to kidnap and sell the police officer: Tin Than, 51, residing at Butagyi Ward, Myeni Gone Quarter, Mawlamyine; Tin Min Htut, 46, residing at Zaw Gone Village, Zaukkone Village Tract, Kyaikmaraw Township, Mawlamyine; and Phyo Ko Ko, 38, residing at Butagyi Ward, Myeni Gone Quarter, Mawlamyine. It was learned that one of the three men who kidnapped Police Officer Zaw Win Htun was carrying an identification card that read "Recruitment Duty (Assistant)" from the Army Recruitment Office (Mawlamyine). Currently, the three men are being held at the Kyaukphyu Township Police Station and are being further investigated in cooperation with the Anti-Human Trafficking Police Force Unit (9) (Mawlamyine).