Five Arrested for Violent Abduction, Robbery in Yangon’s Ahlone Township

By Htun Htun 13 November 2018

YANGON—Police have arrested five of eight men involved in forcefully claiming back money from a family-owned company in Yangon’s Ahlone Township on Monday evening.

Ko Soe Kyaw Kyaw Lwin, one of the five detainees, said that he was paid by a middleman identified as Ko Hla Win to claim back debt from a currency dealer. He was asked to bring along five men who Ko Hla Win said would each be given 500,000 kyats ($314). Ko Hla Win reportedly worked on behalf of a man named Ko Myo Myint Aung to hire Ko Soe Kyaw Kyaw Lin.

Ko Soe Kyaw Kyaw Lwin and another suspect named Ko Thura, both the residents of East Dagon Township, were arrested in the compound of the company. Two others—Ko Zaw Htoo and Saw Than Oo—were arrested in East Dagon Township, and the fifth suspect, Ko Tun Tun, was arrested in Taikkyi Township on the outskirts of Yangon.

The company involved, KGL Family Co., exports beans, pulses and other food items and imports and distributes automobile parts and engine oil. However, according to the press release issued by Yangon Region Police Force, the company is also reportedly involved in currency dealings.

U Kyaw Myint, the owner of the company, was on his way back to home when his brother U Myint Sein, also the company’s manager, phoned and told him that a group of men wielding sticks and swords had entered the company compound.

When U Kyaw Myint came back and cried for help, three of the men abducted U Myint Sein using his car for their escape. Some of the men also got away in the light truck which they had arrived in. They also reportedly tied up three of the company’s staff members and took their cell phones. The two men who remained in the company’s compound were arrested there.

As U Kyaw Myint followed them, the men told him over the phone not to follow and not to file a complaint with the police but he proceeded with reporting the incident to the police regardless.

The men abandoned U Sein Myint’s car on Pyay Road, leaving him in the car after taking his two cell phones.

A police officer of Yangon’s Western Police Force said that police have opened a robbery case as it involved more than five people. Police declined to reveal more about those involved in the crime.

Police are currently searching for Ko Hla Win and two other suspects named Ko Swan Saung Oo and Ko Myo Myint Aung.