Police sacked for framing Wa

Police sacked for framing Wa

The whole police unit in Tachilek, opposite Maesai, was transferred separately to other townships in eastern Shan State following an encounter with the Wa, who counter-charged the police as setting them up as drug smugglers, said sources from Tachilek yesterday. 

Of the 141-strong police force in Tachilek, 137 of them were ordered by Rangoon on 8 September to disperse to Monghsat, Mongyawng, Mongphyak, Mongyang and other townships, while 4 were taken to Kengtung, 102 miles north of Tachilek, to receive punishment in prison. 

Sources said the four policemen had put up a makeshift checkpoint near Sansai Tai Quarters where they waved down a truck driven by Wa. The police then set out to make a search at the end of which they produced a bag containing 90-100 pills of yaba (methamphetamines) and demanded a certain amount of money if they did not want to be arrested. 

"That was clearly a setup", said one source. "The Wa liaison officer, Yilin, who has his office in Hawngleuk, informed the MI-24 (Military Intelligence unit stationed at Tachilek), that also appeared to have concluded the same and reported to Rangoon accordingly." 

Another source also believed it was a frame-up. "If a Wa were being jailed for a mere few hundred pills, he would have really lost face," he said. 

A different perspective came from a native of Tachilek. "If even the police are dumped in favor of the Wa, what can we ordinary citizens expect anything from the junta?" he asked. 

The United Wa State Army, Rangoon's main ally, has been called a terrorist organization with connections to drug trafficking by the United States.