The military regime said it arrested 14 people at the outskirts of Yangon on Monday who were trying to join “explosives training” in the area controlled by an ethnic armed group in the country’s southeast.
Military-control news media said security forces arrested 14 people between the ages of 21 and 47 in Hlegu and Htauk Kyant of Yangon Region and in Nyaung Khar Shey junction in Waw township of Bago Region on March 22.
Labeling the detainees “rioters,” the report alleged “some youths who participated in the riotous protests [attempted to] go to an ethnic armed group to attend an explosives course.”
The state-controlled media report added that the junta’s security forces are “tightening security in respective areas” following an informant’s tip that those people would be travelling.
Of the 14, three are drivers and the rest are the members of National League for Democracy (NLD) in Thanlynn, South Dagon, Thingangyun and Hlaing Thayar townships.
The report said the detainees were planning to travel to Bilin, in Mon State, and from there they would join an ethnic armed organization. It did not identify which group.
In the country’s southeast, where Karen and Mon states are located, several Karen and Mon ethnic armed groups are active. They have been fighting with the Myanmar military for the last seven decades, aside from a ceasefire in the past decade.
On Tuesday, the regime’s spokesman also said that more than a thousand people have fled into the country’s southeast border areas.
It said the regime would take effective action against the detainees, accusing them of “destabilizing the state and rule of law.” In addition to those arrests, the regime also said it is preparing to arrest another 13 NLD members of Thanlynn, South Dagon and Mingaladon townships.
Since the coup, anti-regime protests have erupted across the country, calling for the release of detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the President U Win Myint and others arrested by the junta.
The regime’s violent crackdown on anti-regime protests has killed at least 262 protesters and bystanders, including children, since the coup on Feb. 1.
As of Wednesday, some 1,900 people are still under the regime’s detention. Twenty-four people have been charged and sentenced to prison, and arrest warrants have been issued for another 109 people, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
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