December17, 2022. (Narinjara)

Asthe lawlessness of the regime increases, ordinary crime has proliferated andparticularly inMrauk-U township of Rakhine state. The number of thefts, burglaries,lootings and gang robberies is increasing day by day and localsare seriously concerned.

Onthe night of December 14th, a group burglarized a house in Shwe Gu Taungneighborhood in Mrauk-U. Three phones and 300,000 kyats werestolen.

“A house was broken into in Shwe Gu Taung and 3 phones and 300000 kyatswere stolen on the night of December 14th. The owners saw the thieves, but they didn’t dare say anything. These criminalsusually form groups and intimidate people. They also bringweapons such like knives and slingshot darts, so that people do not dare to fight backagainst them”, a local from Mrauk-U explained.

InMrauk-U, a curfew has been imposed and blackouts usually occurred at night. Thievestake advantage of such conditions to commit burglaries almost every day. Somedaring thieves don’t care about anyone and break into houses tosteal valuables and car batteries.

“Outagesare common in Mrauk-U and there are frequent blackouts at night. A curfewwas also issued, so no one left the houses after sunset. Criminals takeadvantage of this and commit thefts and burglaries in the dark. Whenthere is electricity, people can light up their houses. But now it is totally dark at night-time, so weneed to be more careful about home security”, the Mrauk-U local added.

Underthe current situation, the Arakan Army (AA) has not been able to fully deploy administrative and security mechanisms in Mrauk-Uyet, and the Military Council also do not provide security, so the thieves thrive.

Dueto the decrease in administrative authority and the rule of law in the interimperiod, crises like difficulty in finding jobs,inflation and poverty are getting worse, the country becomes unstable, and criminals are taking advantage ofthe situation.

“Nowadays, people are protecting their homes themselves. One carelessnesscan lead to their homes being broken into. Therefore, it isnecessary to find a way for the people of Mrauk-U to deal with these problems”, a local alsocommented.

InJuly, thefts, robberies and break-ins occurred in Mrauk-U almost every dayuntil AA took over security, and now these crimes havestarted rising again.