Mandalay Region government chief minister Dr. Zaw Myint Maung said that people were not aware of the success of Operation Hawk, an anti-crime operation.

“Crimes can be found everywhere in the world, not only in our country. We are now doing this to reduce the criminal cases here,” Chief Minister Dr. Zaw Myint Maung said told media on 14 September.

“We have Operation Hawk. No one is aware of this operation. Now it has been running for almost three months. It will have been three months on 23 September. No one pays attention to our Operation Hawk. They do not know about the success of this Operation Hawk though they are talking about the high rate of crimes,” he noted.

Speaking on 14 September, CM Dr. Zaw Myint Maung responded to the criticisms made of his local government and police force over the high crime rate in Mandalay.

The Chief Minister the police force was conducting regular patrols and checkpoints to midnight or later to help lower the crime rate in the city. He did not say how much Operation Hawk had achieved in terms of lowering the crime rate.

An incident of armed robbery and shooting happened on 13 August in the city and knife attacks are rampant in the Mandalay Region. Criticism is growing over the regional government’s lack of ability to tackle the growing crime wave.