Following the killing of a General Administration Department clerk at Maungdaw Township in northern Rakhine State, a Muslim teenager has been arrested with evidence, according to U Hla Thein, the regime’s Rakhine State Administration Council spokesman.
“We arrested a Muslim teenager from Maungdaw town. He is 14. We found the victim’s phone and a bloodstained cloth from him. He broke the SIM card from the victim’s phone. We believe his two older brothers were also involved in the murder. The investigation is ongoing,” U Hla Thein, who is also the state’s junta-appointed advocate general, told The Irrawaddy.
The police are searching for the two other suspects, he added.
The Maungdaw police and district administrator were unavailable for comment.
Ko Hsan Htay Naing, 26, was found dead with his throat slit at Maungdaw’s jetty on Thursday.
Maungdaw was one of the flashpoints of communal violence between Buddhist Rakhine and Muslim communities since 2012 and the murder prompted fears of further violence.
On Tuesday, harvested rice was set on fire in paddy fields in Kan Nwar, a Muslim village in Buthidaung Township, Maungdaw District.
There have been a number of arson attacks on harvested paddy and machinery in several Rakhine villages near Muslim villages in Kyaukphyu, Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U townships since early December. In some villages, cattle – which are often still used to work farmland – had their legs cut.
Source – Irrawaddy Burmese News
Myanmar Junta Police Arrest Muslim Teen After Civil Servant’s Murder
