The Myanmar military has arrested around 70 local residents in Sittwe, Rakhine State, including 40 Muslims.
According to information provided by local residents to wsnews24.com, a joint team of police, immigration officials, and the military carried out the arrest operation around 11:00 p.m. on April 27 in Baung Dway Su, Kyauktat Lane, Lanmadaw Taung Ward, and Hari Muslim village in Sittwe.
“They came under the pretext of checking guest lists and then made arrests. It has been going on for three to four days. Around 70 people were detained on the night of April 27. They are conducting large-scale searches and interrogations. Families have gone to appeal for their release,” said an unnamed local ward administrator speaking to Narinjara.
Among those detained are reportedly around 40 Muslim men from Hari village and around 30 Rakhine men from various Sittwe wards, including Baung Dway Su, Kyauktat Lane, and Lanmadaw Taung Ward.
It is reported that they were arrested without any clear charges under the pretext of guest list verification and have not yet been released.
Earlier, on the night of April 24, a joint force of around 20 personnel also entered Mani Ratana Monastery in Yae Gyi Taung Ward of Sittwe to conduct a guest list check and arrested a 40-year-old female camp administrator.
It is also reported that the military regime is forcibly relocating residents from more than 20 villages outside Sittwe to monasteries in the city. These displaced people, along with local residents in Sittwe, are frequently subjected to guest list checks and arrests.
In some previous cases, detainees were released in exchange for money, while those unable to pay were reportedly forced into military training and sent to the front lines as conscripts.
Local residents fear that due to the ongoing arrests, detainees may not be released but instead forcibly recruited into the military and sent to battlefronts.
