Burma army soldiers arrested four youths aged around 20 at the Uru creek in Hpakant town late on Wednesday afternoon, accusing them of being members of the People’s Defence Forces.
“I believe someone passed on information about these youths because the soldiers were waiting for them at the bridge and arrested them as soon as they arrived,” a local source told the KNG on condition of anonymity.
The soldiers took them to a junta camp on a hill in Hpakant for interrogation. The KNG is still trying to find out their names.
Another local resident, who also requested anonymity for security reasons, said the commander of the camp had demanded that all suspects be taken there first, not to the police station, and if they believed they were linked to the PDF or the Kachin Independence Army, to kill them.
“The new commander of the Hpakant military strategic camp is so brutal.”
According to local reports, the youths are accused of killing the son of U Myint Swe in Maw Yon Quarter in Seng Tawng on 6 May.
On the same day of their arrest, soldiers arrested U Min Aung in Maw Wan Ward in Hpakant Township; over 30 people from Seng Hpra on 18 April; nearly 200 in Maden Yang on 21 April; over 100 in Sang Hker and Mazup Yang on 26 April; and 29 from Malang Yang on 29 April.
