Sources deny SSA extortion report

Sources deny SSA extortion report

By Nan Tin Htwe   |   Monday, 08 July 2013

A number of sources have rejected a report in state-run media accusing the Shan State Army-South of extortion.

The June 5 report in the New Light of Myanmar and Myawady newspapers, headlined "Yoma Bank (Muse) receives extortion letter", said a motorcyclist presented a letter of extortion to a receptionist of Yoma Bank in Muse, northern Shan State, at 11am on July 4.

The report said the letter was from the SSA-South and its political wing, the Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS). It demanded the bank pay K10 million (about US$10,000) to the group no later than July 14.

However, both the manager of the bank and an officer from Muse's police station said they had no idea where the report came from.

"We didn't accept any extortion letter," the Yoma Bank manager in Muse told The Myanmar Times on July 5.

The New Light of Myanmar report said that the bank opened a case at the police station. However, when The Myanmar Times contacted the police station in Muse, the police officer said they had not received a complaint from Yoma Bank. "If that happened then they would have come to us," he said by phone on July 5.

The Myawaddy report purportedly contained a photo of the letter with the RCSS/SSA stamp in the top-right corner with the name of a lieutenant colonel from the group's War Region 701.

A spokesperson for the Shan group, Sai Lao Saeng, said extortion was "not RCSS/SSA policy. We did not do it."

He said the group had lost control of War Region 701 during recent fighting with the Tatmadaw, adding that it was "hard to control that region".

"In Shan State, there's the RCSS/SSA, Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North, Kachin Independence Army, Palaung army and also mafia gangs who traffick drugs," he said.

Deputy Minister for Information U Ye Htut did not respond to requests for comment.

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/07/09/sources-deny-ssa-extortion-report/