An imposter, posing as a member of the Chin National Army (CNA), who was collecting money from local people, was arrested by the Burmese Army in Chin state on November 5.
Two imposters were identified as Thang Kim from Lente village in Falam Township and Sui Za Thang from Hmawngtlang village in Than Tlang Township, Chin state. Sui Za Thang escaped and Thang Kim was arrested by soldiers of the Light Infantry Battalion No- 274 based in Cikha sub-township.
“The CNA has stopped collecting taxes, so, the local people easily identified that they were not from CNA and informed the army. But one person escaped,” said a local from Cikha.
They collected at least 200 Kyats from each household of Haicin villagers citing reasons for the collection as operational costs. The local people informed the army and one imposter was arrested.
It is learnt that. Sui Za Thang is based in Mizoram state, northeast India as a migrant worker with his family for the last few years, but he separated from his wife recently. Some local people believe he will seek refuge in Mizoram.
The CNA released a statement in 2005 that the group had stopped collecting money from Chin people after the famine in Chin state.
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) announced on July 2011 that Chin State remains the poorest state among 14 divisions and states in Burma with 73.3% per cent of the people living below the poverty line.