Rakhine Communication Hub, citing local media Western News, reports on 24 May that five people, including philanthropist and author Wai Hun Aung, who were arrested Tuesday by the Military Council in Sittwe Township on the morning of 23 May 2023, were freed a day after their arrest.

The five-person charity group was arrested on the way to deliver emergency supplies from Sittwe to Ponnagyun Township.

According to a person close to the philanthropist, speaking to Western News the accusations spreading on social media that the well-known philanthropist was arrested for providing emergency social relief to cyclone victims are also false. “It was not directly related to Wai Hun Aung. The two others from Yangon and the car they were in were taken because they were suspicious. So all the people who came in the same group were arrested,” he said.

After a night of interrogation at the military camp in Sittwe, all the detainees, including two philanthropists who came from Yangon, have been released.

Major efforts are underway by various bodies including the Myanmar junta authorities, local NGOs and INGOs to provide humanitarian aid to the victims of Cyclone Mocha that struck the west of the country last week causing widespread damage and over one hundred deaths.