In Myit-kyina, Authorities Did Not Visit the Site of Illegal Logging by Village Clerk, Locals Say It Was Just a Show of Investigation

Mekong, July 22 Locals have complained to Mekong that although a joint team from the township administration and relevant departments inspected the area around Pan-se-lee village, where village clerk U Hein Zeyar Oo of the Lueng-kham-lun village-tract in Myit-kyina Township, Shan State (East), was illegally logging and transporting timber, the team did not actually visit the logging site and conducted only a perfunctory investigation. The joint team, which included officials from the Myit-kyina Township General Administration Department, the police force, and the Forest Department, went to investigate on July 21st at 9:45 AM, following reports of illegal logging in the direction of Pan-se-lee village. "Their team went towards Pan-se-lee village. However, they did not go to the actual logging site in Pan-se-lee where illegal logging was taking place. They did not ask the local villagers about the exact location of the illegal logging. They just gathered some wood scraps and branches found by the roadside and burned them," a local told Mekong. The logging site where the General Administration clerk is illegally logging is a pine hill on the left side before reaching Pan-se-lee village, and according to locals, due to logging with machinery, the entire hill is almost devoid of trees. "The joint team asked the villagers, 'Where are the logs piled up?' but they did not ask where the logs were being cut and transported. Since the logs were illegally cut and sold just a few days ago, there would be no piles of logs in the village. Shouldn't they have gone directly to the recently logged site and taken effective action?" the local continued. It is understood that four villagers from the upper and lower villages of Pan-se-lee have been summoned to the Myit-kyina Township General Administration Office for questioning in connection with the investigation into the illegal logging. "U Hein Zeyar Oo, the General Administration clerk who is illegally logging, and his wife, Daw Ee Kyi, have been threatening the villagers. We have heard that they told the villagers, 'If you don't listen to us, prepare to flee,'" another local said. It has been learned that U Hein Zeyar Oo, the clerk of the Lueng-kham-lun village-tract in Myit-kyina Township, has been demanding hundreds of thousands of kyats for issuing village recommendation letters, illegally logging timber from the natural environment, and oppressing and discriminating against local residents using weapons and authority, leading locals to file complaints with various higher authorities.