Shrimp farm owners in Mraybon Township in Arakan State are currently facing big problems maintaining their business because hoodlumswith the cooperation of local authoritiesare extorting money from them.
One shrimp farm owner said: We are really facing a problem to run our business in the area because many local miscreants are collecting tolls from us. We are unable to refuse their demands because the miscreants are backed by local authorities, including the army and police.
The miscreant leader Daung Maung asked for 5 lakh kyats [$78,000
?] from shrimp farms, and told them to pay the toll within 15 days! If anyone can not pay this demand, hes threatened that the shrimp farms will be broken down.
We went to the police station to complain about the incident, but the police officer was unwilling to solve the problem. I heard that the police officer regularly receives money from the miscreant group.
According to a another local source, the shrimp farm owners complained to high government officials in the state of Arakan State about the problem, but no action was taken against the miscreants.
Every shrimp farm owner in the region paid the toll to Daung Maung because they were afraid to have the ponds torn apart. Daung Maungs group has good connections with the local army authority, and it is sharing the money with them.
Source: Narinjara. Shrimp Farm Owners Suffer Extortion. September 18, 2008. Information: Narinjara News (NN) was founded by Arakanese exiles in Bangladesh. It is an independent organization, not affiliated with any political party or organization (email
narinjara@narinjara.com).
