 A border security gate located on the banks of the Naff River in Maungdaw Township has been collecting Bangladesh currency and mobile phone cards from traders as tolls whenever they cross the Naff River to Bangladesh illegally in row boats, said one trader.
He said, "We have to pay 300 taka, 50 taka in a mobile prepaid phone card, two kilograms of rice, and one kilogram of cooking oil to the gate guards whenever we cross to the Bangladesh side through the border point."
The gate is known as San Pay Bin Yin Nasaka gate, under Nasaka area number 5, which is situated in northern Maungdaw Township.
"Nasaka officials at the gate do not want to keep Burmese kyat because Burmese currency is not valuable, and is also a problem for them to keep the huge quantity of kyat bills in their hands. So the officials have asked for Bangladesh taka from the traders as a charge for going to Bangladesh," the trader said.
He said that the Nasaka officials have asked for 50 taka mobile phone cards from all traders to use them in the Bangladesh network phones.
A border source said Nasaka officials from the western border area are widely using Bangladesh network phones even though it is technically illegal and the use of Bangladesh networks has been banned by the high authority in Burma.
The Nasaka forces have arrested local people who are holding Bangladesh mobile phones in Burma, but they have continued using such phones themselves in contravention of the law in Burma.
The trader said that the rice and cooking oil is for their daily food because the military government has not been providing dry food rations to its armed forces recently. The Nasaka officers have had to ask for rice and oil from traders in order to eat.
It was also learned that it is not only at the San Pay Bin Yin Nasaka gate that such tolls are being collected from traders, but other gates along the Naff River have also been collecting such unconventional tolls.
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