KACHIN STATE – It is reported that Commander General Ko Ko Maung, the Deputy Commander and the Minister of Security and Border Affairs of Kachin State, the Northern Division of the junta council, were among the seven top officials that have been arrested and are being questioned by the Nay Pyi Taw military headquarters.
According to military sources close to the Nay Pyi Taw military headquarters, top military officers, including the military commander of the Northern Command of the junta council army are being detained and interrogated for leakage of information about special operations, refusal to fight and disobedience of orders as well as allegedly working in collaboration with the Kachin Independence Organization / Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA).
“General Ko Ko Maung was posted there not long ago. I heard that there is cooperation with groups from the other side. There are many casualties of junta soldiers in the current operations. It’s not an easy case since the higher-ups caught wind that they have an exchange of profit. All the people arrested now are important people in the military operations,” an army source close to the military headquarters said.
General Ko Ko Maung, Commander of the Northern Military Division, Deputy Commander Aung Naing Oo, Minister of Security and Border Affairs Colonel Aung Kyi Lin, Commander of Division 33 and in charge of Hpakant special command Ko Ko Lwin, the commander of Division 88 and in charge of the special command of the Gang Dongyan region Colonel Soe Htut and two major-ranked officers were arrested and taken to the headquarters on the night of July 13.
General Ko Ko Maung, who was arrested, was previously the regional commander of the Southeast Regional Military Headquarters based in Mawlamyine, and the coup leader Min Aung Hlaing switched the positions of him and General Myat Thet Oo, the previous commander of the Northern Regional Military Headquarters based in Myitkyina.
When General Myat Thet Oo arrived in Mon State, where General Ko Ko Maung had moved, there were losses of not less than eight battalions, so there were repercussions within the junta army.
General Ko Ko Maung was promoted from the rank of Brigadier General at the Hsenwi-based No. 16 Operations Command to the rank of General and Commander of the Southeast Military Command in a short time in March 2020.
Currently, intense fighting is going on near the KIO headquarters in Laiza, and there have been casualties on both sides.