A 21-year-old woman is in police custody in Rakhine State’s Kyaukphyu Township after being arrested late last week on suspicion of financially supporting the anti-regime People’s Defence Force (PDF).
Aye Myint Myat Aung was detained last Friday at a residential compound for healthcare workers in Kyaukphyu’s Asoera ward where she was living with her family, according to a relative.
The ward administrator, accompanied by soldiers and police, was conducting a late-night “guest list check” at the compound when Aye Myint Myat Aung was arrested, her aunt told Myanmar Now.
“The police said that a bank account in her name and registered under her ID card number was being used to provide financial support to the PDF every month and that they would need to question her,” her aunt said.
Aye Myint Myat Aung denied having anything to do with the PDF and said she was being wrongly accused, the aunt said, adding that her niece has no money of her own and receives just 500-1,000 kyat a day as pocket money from her parents.
“She stays at home most of the time, under her family’s supervision, and has no knowledge of political matters,” the aunt added.
A number of arrests have been made in Rakhine in recent months over allegations of involvement with the PDF, despite the fact that there has been little evidence of an armed resistance movement emerging in the state since the military seized power in February.
In October, three men, including Arakan Front Party candidate Sein Chit and Mrauk-U-based writer Min Dipar, were arrested on suspicion of having ties to the PDF and charged under Myanmar’s Counterterrorism Law.
In early November, two women and a teenaged girl were arrested in Rakhine’s Thandwe Township and later charged under the same law for allegedly financing PDF operations.
Later in the month, 40-year-old schoolteacher Cherry Thet Shey was taken into custody in Toungup, in southern Rakhine State, for reasons believed to be related to her participation in the Civil Disobedience Movement.
At least 10 local leaders of the ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy, have also faced prosecution in the state on various charges. The party enjoys strong support in the state’s southern townships.
![Resistance fighters holding heavy weapons ammunition in central Myanmar. (Photo: Freedom Revolution Force [FRF])](https://myanmar-now.org/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2024/04/438869056_443267851680128_1706386881626943924_n-390x220.jpeg)