Lao police handed over 17 Myanmar nationals to junta soldiers at a border checkpoint in the northern Golden Triangle region – the first time Laos has arrested and transferred anti-junta activists, several Myanmar citizens who live in Laos told Radio Free Asia.
The 13 males and four females – all between the ages of 20 and 30 – were taken to the junta’s Golden Triangle Command headquarters in Shan state’s Kengtung township, where they were interrogated, the sources said.
The junta had submitted a list of names to Lao authorities, claiming those on the list were supporting a People’s Defense Force militia, said Yay Khe, a Myanmar national who is living in Laos. PDF militias are bands of ordinary citizens who have taken up arms against the military rulers who took over control of the country in a 2021 coup.
However, several Myanmar people living in Laos told RFA that the activists were arrested while they were collecting funds for people displaced by the fighting in Laos’ Ton Pheung on April 13. Ton Pheung lies directly across from Thailand on the Mekong River and is about 8 km (5 miles) downriver from Myanmar.
The handover of the arrestees took place on May 3 on Ton Pheung’s jetty, according to Yay Khe.
The Myanmar activists were taken by a top junta military officer who led police, soldiers and the arrestees back onto a boat at the jetty.
When the group returned to Myanmar, the arrestees had to wear black bags on their heads, Yay Khe said.
Casino workers and cleaning staff
More than 40,000 Myanmar nationals have migrated to Laos since the 2021 military coup. Many of them work in the hotels and casinos in a Chinese-controlled special economic zone along the river that is a notorious crime area.
All 17 of the people had been working in Chinese-owned enterprises in Laos, another Myanmar resident of Laos said.
“They have been here for over two years,” the resident said. “Some work in casinos. Some are cleaning staff.
All of them had acquired illegal stay permit cards, the resident said.
RFA was only able to learn the names of two of the arrested activists – Aye Chan and Sai Naw Khit. Both were accused of leading two different anti-junta support groups.
RFA attempted to contact junta spokesman Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun and Khun Thein Maung, the junta’s economic minister and spokesman for Shan state, to ask for more details about the May 3 handover, but they did not reply to telephone calls.
RFA also sent an email to the Lao Embassy in Yangon, but hasn’t received a reply.
Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.