Vehicle owners driving in the area of Anan Kwin village, where the Military Operation Command (MOC) office is located, are hijacked to porter for the Burmese Army.

Drivers along with their cars driving through Thanbyuzayat (Zopbu in Mon) township of Mon State on the route to the Three Pagodas Pass are commonly nabbed by the SPDC and used in their offensive against the KNU during the dry season. On December 29, a Karen column in turn stole the rice from the porters who were transporting the rations for the SPDC’s Burmese Army.

KNU Captain, Saw Htel Nay from Brigade No. 6, fighting in the area confirmed the seizing of the rations from the passengers. “We took the SPDC’s rations from the passenger cars. We knew that the SPDC was planning to launch an offensive against us in the upcoming dry season. That is why we took their rations to halt their plans,” Nay said.

Despite paying bribes to Lieutenant Colonel Tin Maung Maung of Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 407, some motor cars are ordered to porter. One vehicle owner who preferred anonymity told Kaowao that about 3000 sacks of rice were carried to the SPDC battalions which took about half a day.

Nearly every year, the Burmese Army stops vehicles and forces them to porter their supplies. Sometimes the BA takes the passengers in an attack against the KNU column active in the area. One Mon driver who had driven the SPDC soldiers with his mother’s car was injured when the KNU ambushed them around Anan Kwin, no compensation was provided by the SPDC.

The drivers, in this area, are Mon nationals and cannot refuse the SPDC’s orders and must porter, otherwise they are prevented from acquiring a driving permit for about five months during the winter and summer seasons.