Fifteen people were arrested and household items worth 20 million kyats were destroyed by Myanmar junta forces after the recent killing of an alleged junta informant in Thapyegone, Myan Aung township, Ayeyarwady region.

After the assassination on 1 October of Jyat Gyi (a.k.a) Win Myint Aung, an alleged police informant and a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in Thapyegone, junta forces arrested 15 people, accusing them of being members of the People’s Defence Force and destroying household items, according to local people.

The locals said that those arrested were four women and 11 men. Of them, one is a 14-year-old boy.

“The villagers were arrested after the alleged informant (Dalan) Win Myint Aung was killed. Pointing guns at the villagers, the junta forces raided the houses. They took everything that was valuable. The rest of the things was destroyed. The powder used to paint walls was seized as explosives. The junta forces’ actions were extreme. The police officer-in-charge also threatened to burn the village,” a local villager told Mizzima.

Military council forces and police have been carrying out arbitrary arrests and violent destruction of houses in Thapyegone, and the detainees are being beaten during interrogation at Thapyegone Police Station and Ingapu township Police Station following the informant’s death.

A member of a guerrilla group claimed Win Myint Aung was killed on 1 October and this incident was not related to the villagers.