The junta’s troops arrested a village administrator and villagers as they failed to inform the authorities that a policeman who had joined in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) returned to live in his home in Pann Sit Village, Pindaya Township, Taunggyi District, Shan State, according to a local resident.

The village administrator, eight street elders, and 12 villagers were arrested around 2 am on January 20.

"Some 50 soldiers and policemen with five vehicles came and arrested the village administrator Shwe Phi, along with street-elders and about 12 villagers from Pann Sit village. The village administrator arrested is a big informant. The CDM policeman Phyo Win was arrested by the junta in Zay Tann ward,” said a local resident.

Normally detainees in the area were taken to the 55th Battalion in Kalaw Township for interrogation, but it is not yet known where Phyo Win and the villagers were taken. Phyo Win, 35, joined the CDM in April 2021.

A local resident said the junta troops also arrested a father and two sons doing charity work in Kan Thar village, about 10 miles from Pann Sit village, on the morning of January 20. Arbitrary arrests are on the rise in Pindaya Township, he said.