Official Bandits: Bribe and you shall pillage freely

People in the Kachin State, especially women, constantly live in a state of alarm because of the government police and soldiers patrolling the Sadung area.

Traditionally people from neighboring villages would come to Sadung Pa for shopping every Saturday. However, over the past few years people have started shopping there every day because the market in town has grown in size.

A border town with China, it is common for people in Sadung Pa to use two currencies – Kyat and Yuan (RMB) interchangeably. The Sadung region is also known for opium cultivation in Burma (Myanmar).

Despite the fact that the authorities—the military government, National Defense Army-Kachin (NDAK) and Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)—destroy opium fields every year, opium continues to be a major source of income for the local people. It is still common for people to keep opium in small quantities for medicinal purposes.
Policemen and soldiers (sometimes without soldiers) in the Sadung region harass women and search them for opium and Chinese currency. If they find either Chinese money or opium, they threaten and rob them.

The latest case happened on July 9, 2009 near a Shan village between Sadung Pa and Sagapa village. A woman from Sagapa village (name withheld) went to Sadung Pa for shopping and was stopped near the aforementioned Shan village by two men in plain clothes armed with pistols and handcuffs. They searched her but they only found 9,000 Kyat. Fortunately, they did not confiscate her money but subjected her to interrogation, demanding to know where she came from and for what purpose she intended to use her money.

The woman was in shock as she recalled this experience and recounted that she felt goose bumps all over her body. She was alone and does not speak Burmese.

Local people informed me that the police force (essentially lawless bandits) only ambush people if they are women and only one or two.

When asked if they were aware of this situation, heads of local villages said that they have heard such stories numerous times. However, they do not know the names of the perpetrators which prevents them from reporting these instances to the concerned authorities.

Since most of the women in this region, especially those in their 40s or above, do not speak Burmese and have little formal education, they are easy targets for these bandits.

Many believe that these robberies are sinister in more ways than one as there is reason to believe that they are organized as shady business deals between officers and subordinates. Subordinates have to give 300,000 Kyat to officers each month in order for the officers to allow the subordinates to rob innocent women freely without repercussion.