Junta units conferred right to run wheels

Junta units conferred right to run wheels

General

Many battalions near the border have for some years been given the right to smuggle in contraband motor vehicles from Thailand so they could survive on their own, according to businessmen in Tachilek, opposite Maesai.

"However, as most of them have no capital and connections, what they do is to sub-license those who are in the trade," said a source who is working with Light Infantry Battalions 316 (Talerh), 571 (Monglane) and 572 (Hsopyawng), all based outside Tachilek. "We are required to pay them 300,000 - 400,000 baht each month."

Incidentally, one of the well-used practices to avoid one's car from being commandeered by the Army to transport troops and supplies is to register it as one belonging to one of its units. "I pay 15,000 kyat each month for my Mitsubishi Pajero", said one of the townsmen. (Also common is to pay the local automobile association on a daily basis: 600 kyat.)

Many other auto-runners, at the same time, try to reduce their running costs by transporting by boats along the Mekong from Chiangrai's Chiangsaen pier, where second-hand station-wagons "vans", sedans and pick-up trucks from Japan are assembled, to Hsoplwe, where Shan State's Lwe river joins the Mekong, in the area controlled by the ceasefire group, National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (Special Region #4) of Sai Leun.

"From Hsoplwe, drivers are hired to haul them to Mongla, Panghsang and Kokang at 100,000 kyat (5,000 baht) apiece and found," one of the sources who makes a living in Tachilek but has a home in Taunggyi said. "it isn't a bad life except during the rainy season."

According to him, only a small part of the haul goes into China. "Most buyers come from Mandalay and Rangoon," he said. "I don't know how they proceed from Kokang to their own markets. But they must have their own way to deal with the authorities."

The Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma also reported on 18 March that some 40 second-hand automobiles from Japan crossed the Three Pagoda Pass, opposite Kanchanaburi, each day to Moulmein where the auto market was said to be booming. Sources in Tachilek meanwhile claim handling of some 700-800 vehicles each month during the dry season and 200-300 during the monsoons.