Two police officers assigned to protect the controversial Letpadaung copper mine in Sagaing Region’s Salingyi Township surrendered to a local defence force on Monday, according to resistance sources.
The two officers, who were not identified by name, turned themselves in with their G3 rifles after leaving the heavily guarded mine site, a spokesperson for the One Star Task Force, the group that received the pair, told Myanmar Now.
“They weren’t part of any junta group that torched villages. They wanted to leave so badly they were in tears, saying they couldn’t stand the oppression anymore,” said Kyaw Gyi, the group’s spokesperson.
One of the officers expressed a desire to join the fight against Myanmar’s military junta, while the other simply wanted to go somewhere in the country that was safe, according to Kyaw Gyi. For now, both have been moved to a safe area, he added.
Residents of villages near the mine, which is operated by a subsidiary of China’s Wanbao Mining and the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, Ltd, a military-owned conglomerate, say that soldiers have been conducting searches in the area since the two police officers disappeared.
Locals have long opposed the mine, leading to numerous confrontations both before and since last year’s coup.
In April, more than a dozen anti-regime groups active in the area issued a statement calling for the mine’s closure, saying that profits from the project were propping up the military junta.
The following month, not long after Wanbao issued a statement claiming that it had been threatened by regime opponents, troops sent to guard the mine clashed with local defence forces.
Since then, numerous atrocities targeting civilians, including the murder in May of two mine employees who had joined a general strike as part of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), have been reported in the area.
On June 21, two residents of the village of Moe Gyo Pyin were found dismembered after being captured by junta troops during clearance operations. Days later, the bodies of three more tortured civilians were discovered in neighbouring villages.
According to a mine employee who has joined the CDM, junta forces deployed along the Pathein-Monywa road routinely fire on nearby villages with heavy artillery in order to secure passage of junta vehicles used to transport copper plates from the mine.
Whenever soldiers and police on security detail arrive in the area, “Local villagers have to flee,” said the striking mine worker.
Another CDM participant welcomed the decision of the two police officers to defect from the regime’s forces and urged others to do the same.
“The soldiers used to be normal civilians once, too. I would therefore like to ask them to stop giving up their lives for the dictators and to join the CDM for the good of the country,” they said.
According to the One Star Task Force spokesperson, any soldier or police officer who surrenders with their weapon will receive a reward of 7m kyat ($3,300) from the group.
Since the military seized power in February of last year, around 6,000 police have defected to the resistance, according to figures released by the shadow National Unity Government.
