Karen troops retaliate Thai police's 'extortion'
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MYAWADDY - The Karen National Union (KNU) and Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) troops led by General Tiger stopped and inspected Thai trucks heading to the Myawaddy border trade zone yesterday morning.
The move came in response to Thai police's "alleged extortion" of money from Myanmar trucks and citizens travelling to Mae Sot, they said.
Some 30 trucks driving from the Myanmar-Thai Friendship Bridge to the border trade zone were inspected near the Min Padonmar Playground on Asia Road.
General Tiger was critical of the Thai police treatment of people from Myanmar, saying: “They don’t make inspections when the district [administrators] or the police go there, but Myanmar citizens are always inspected when they go there [to Thailand]. Then, they extort money for various reasons. I did this to solve this issue.”
A local driver who has crossed to Mae Sot said: “People driving cars from our country always get inspected by the Thai police. This morning, someone had to pay Bt100 near the airport. He has a ticket to cross the border, but was taken to the police station and money extorted from him.”
The Thai trucks were later released after the Myawaddy district administrator, township administrator, and border committee chairman arrived at the scene and negotiated with the ethnic armed group. They told them they would file an official complaint to the Thai government in regard to extortion by the Thai police.
