Woman Arrested for Sending Another to Exiled Organization in Bangladesh

Maungdaw: A woman was recently arrested by the police in Maungdaw in western Burma’s Arakan State for sending a younger woman from the town to an organization based in Bangladesh.

The woman is identified as 50 year old Daw Ma Thein from Waetharli Village in Maungdaw Township and she was arrested by the police on the 22nd of October, reportedly on charges of trafficking the young woman.

Ma Thein is said to have sent the young woman with her mother’s consent to the Rakhine Women's Union based in Bangladesh, but the stepfather of the young woman was dissatisfied with the arrangement and asked Ma Thein to return his daughter to him. She was then arrested by the police in Maungdaw when she brought the young woman back from Bangladesh.

Daw Saw Mra Raza Lunn, the President of RWU also confirmed the arrest of Daw Ma Thein in Maungdaw.

“The girl has just matriculated and her mother contacted us to send her here so that she could learn and work in our organization before continuing her higher education."

Daw Ma Thein had just sent her to us on behalf of her mother, but her father was dissatisfied with her being here, so Daw Ma Thein was arrested by the police in Maungdaw when she brought back the girl from here”, said Daw Saw Mra Raza Lunn.

The girl who was brought back by Daw Ma Thein is known as Ma Khin Ma Hline, the daughter of Daw Ma Khin Win from Maungdaw.

“We had accepted Khin Ma Hline because she had her mother’s consent. We also knew that her mother did not like to keep her at home for certain reasons. Daw Ma Thein brought her back from Bangladesh as her mother later requested because she feared that Kin Ma Hline's stepfather threatened to tell the police that she has sold her own daughter”, said Daw Saw Mra Raza Lunn.

It has also been learnt that some documents delivered from RWU regarding the campaign for stopping the capture of white elephants and preserving natural environments were seized from Daw Ma Thein when she was arrested. Daw Saw Mra Raza Lunn however said she was unsure if Daw Ma Thein had taken those documents along with her from the RWU, as the RWU had never given those documents to her.

Daw Ma Khin Win, the girl’s mother, was unreachable though Narinjara had tried to contact her via telephone for her comments on the matter.

According to sources in Maungdaw, Daw Ma Thein is a very poor widow and not the trafficker of the girl. She sent the girl to the RWU in Bangladesh according to a request from the girl’s mother. She is now being detained in the police station in Maungdaw for further interrogation. 

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Narinjara News