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KARENNI STATE- Locals reported that the military council soldiers stopped cars and motorcycles in Loikaw town and demanded money at gunpoint, stated an official of the JOB FOR KAYAH organization.
It is said that Junta soldiers patrol the city, stop and inspect all the cars and motorcycles they see, and then extort money.
“They have been doing this for a long time. Even the traffic police are starving (having no proper job) as they even check driver’s and vehicle license. They look for one reason or another to find fault and ask for money,” said the informer.
“The military soldiers asked a car driver from fifty thousand kyats to hundreds of thousands of kyats and that of a motorcycle from the range of twenty-five to sixty thousand kyats,” said a resident of Loikaw. If one refused to pay, the soldiers threatened to confiscate the vehicle, he added.
As military soldiers are going around the city asking for money at gunpoint, the residents are worried about traveling and feel insecure, stated the local.
To control the strong revolutionary forces in the Karenni state, the military council has been sending reinforcements to Loikaw city in both land and air routes through which food and ammunition are redistributed (in military trucks) to the townships where battles are intense.