CHIANG MAI, Thailand — A group of armed men dressed in camouflage shot at and robbed a convoy of passenger buses in Mon State on Tuesday, injuring two and robbing travelers, according to the Ye Township Police Force.
The group fired warning shots into the air at around 1am on Tuesday, in an attempt to force eight buses off the Ye-Moulmein Road near Hnin Sone village. When none of the vehicles stopped, the group turned their weapons on the vehicles, said police Cpl. Zaw Min.
“They shot in the air to stop cars in order to extort money,” he told The Irrawaddy. “As they did not stop, the group shot at the vehicles. Two people were injured by the gunfire.”
Min Min, a driver for the Lucky Star bus line was grazed by a bullet on the left side of his face. The seriousness of the injury is not yet clear. A bus conductor of the Shwe Pale Thi bus line was also wounded in the thigh.
Both men were rushed to the Ye People’s Hospital and are receiving medical treatment. Two passengers were also robbed of 180,000 kyats (US138) and a Huawei smartphone, according to reports in the state-run Myanmar Ahlin daily on Thursday.
The Ye Township police station is investigating Tuesday’s incident.
In a similar incident in Mon State’s Thaton Township in 2013, a driver and a passenger were shot dead after a group of five assailants stopped and robbed a passenger bus bound for Rangoon.
