The anti-junta armed group People’s Defence Forces-Zoland (PDF Zoland), reportedly arrested four police officers in Tedim Township, Chin State for allegedly taking bribes on Monday morning.
The resistance fighters detained police lance corporal Kyaw Thura Soe and privates Khup Khan Tuang, Sithu Moe, and Chan Nyein Kyaw, after stopping them on their motorcycles near Lamzang village, about a mile west of Tedim.
PDF-Zoland is an ethnic armed group operating as the armed wing of the political organisation Zomi Federal Union (ZFU). Thun Ni, a spokesperson for the ZFU’s coordination committee for Tedim Township, said the four officers had been arrested on suspicion of soliciting bribes from truckers travelling the Kale-Tedim highway, and that legal action would be taken against them.
“They were riding their motorcycles and we were waiting for them to come. They sometimes carry guns with them but they weren’t when they were arrested yesterday. There was no shooting during the arrest,” Thun Ni said.
A photo released by PDF Zoland showed that the police officers were in plain clothes at the time of their arrest.
Local resistance groups claimed that junta forces and allied personnel had collected hundreds of thousands of kyat in bribes from various types of vehicles, with amounts varying based on the kinds of commodities they were carrying.
Thun Ni said the resistance forces would not beat or abuse the arrested police officers and that they would be held humanely.
Myanmar Now has been unable to identify the precinct where the detained police officers serve. Phone calls to Kyaw Soe Win, the junta minister of social affairs and spokesperson on Chin State affairs, went unanswered.
The military has declared martial law in every township of Chin State except Paletwa Township.
