Suspected Shooter Arrested in Mawlamyine

Police believe the man to be the gunman in a car chase and shooting that injured a policeman and a civilian in the Mon State capital.

By NETWORK MEDIA GROUP (NMG)

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Mawlamyine police say that they have apprehended and arrested a man who they believe to be the gunman in a car chase and shooting that injured a policeman and a civilian on Sunday.

Officer Tin Tun Oo of Myine Thayar police station said that Nai Paik Htwe was arrested on Wednesday morning at around 5:30 on Bogyoke Aung San Road, following a public tip.

“A civilian reported the suspect to us. Then we rushed there. After that, we questioned the suspect. He is the shooter who we want to arrest,” police officer Tin Tun Oo told NMG.

Police have opened a file at Myine Thayar police station against Nai Paik Htwe under Penal Code 333, for disturbing an on-duty serviceman, as well as 307—attempted murder—and various articles of the narcotics act.

Nai Paik Htwe is being detained at the Myine Thayar police station.

“We are following police procedure for this case. We are still pursing the links with him. We are investigating the case,” police officer Tin Tun Oo explained.

The shooting occurred at around 8 a.m. on Sunday, while police corporal Myo Zaw Oo and police lance corporal Thet Ko Oo were working on duty at Dawn Zayap traffic junction in Mawlamyine. They attempted to stop a vehicle with license plate number YGN 3K/3889 coming from Mudon Township, but the driver sped off.

The on-duty policemen followed in pursuit of the car, blocking it with motorbikes at the U Sitmaung-Thamain Baram junction in Myine Thayar ward. The driver then drove at the officers, shooting four to five rounds of bullets as the motorbikes were knocked over. A police corporal and a civilian were injured in the incident.

Law enforcement later seized 2,000 methaphetamine tablets—marked with the identifiers WY and R—from Nai Paik Htwe’s car.

Police say that Nai Paik Htwe is a lieutenant in the Mon Peace Defense Front (MPDF), but the MPDF denies that he belongs to their group, and have described his membership card as fake.