Officials have increased searches for “smuggled” goods in Mon and Karen states after deputy junta chief Soe Win called on them to regulate food and consumer goods imported through the border.
Soe Win, who chairs the Illegal Trade Eradication Steering Committee, told a meeting of the body to better combat illegal trade, saying it finances armed organizations. Date? He called for checks on trade routes, raids of warehouses and the seizure of goods from markets.
Junta officials have carried out raids in Mon and Karen states since then, merchants say.
A trader based on the Myanmar-Thai border said: “The raids started in [Mon State’s capital] Mawlamyine, and I heard warehouses were raided on Sunday in Tharmanya.”
He said the illegal trade was triggered by the junta’s tight control of US dollars. “As their foreign currency income has declined, they don’t issue import licenses to limit the spending of US dollars. This has forced traders to engage in illegal trade.”
Illegal trade through Paya Thonzu pass has increased since the 2021 coup, he said.
“We are not importing luxuries. We are only importing food. And we have to import it because it is not being produced domestically. If importing those goods is illegal, it is the regime that is indirectly encouraging illegal trade,” he said.
Meanwhile, Soe Win’s order has provided a source of income for junta officials on the ground, merchants said.
Retrieving a 12-wheel cargo truck from junta officials requires a bribe of more than 100 million kyats, they said.
One importer said: “Only merchants and consumers will suffer. It will not impact armed groups [fighting the regime]. The armed groups levy taxes on vehicles depending on the types of their number? wheels. It is wrong to take action against merchants. The move will only be a short-term solution. Merchants will stop importing for a while for fear of arrest. Then, demand will increase, and so will prices.”
The junta’s illegal trade combat teams inspected wholesalers at Yadana Tun wholesale center in Mawlamyine town recently, when? and seized goods imported without an import permit.
One trader on the Myanmar-Thai border wrote on social media on Thursday that he learned that the regime would confiscate all goods imported from Thailand in Mawlamyine within one month.
The latest move by the junta follows failed talks in the last week of September between the Karen National Union, the Karen National Liberation Army, Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and Karen State Border Guard Force to reopen a section of the Asian Highway crucial for trade between Myanmar and Thailand in Karen State. The section has been closed for nearly a year.
The number of checkpoints manned by the junta soldiers, police, traffic police and other armed groups has increased along the Yangon-Myawaddy Road. It costs smaller vehicles about 700,000 kyats for a round trip, while trucks cost 6 million kyats.
People are concerned about possible shortages of goods in the market. A grocery owner in Yangon’s North Dagon Township said: “Thai-made toothpaste is out of stock. It is being rationed at retailers like City Mart and Ocean. Each customer is limited to two tubes of toothpaste. We can’t buy from there to resell, because it is not profitable. We have not been able to buy certain goods from our key suppliers … Prices keep increasing. ”
Short of hard currency, the regime has imposed restrictions on many imports. Merchants blame these restrictions for shortages, price hikes and smuggling.
