Thursday, April 06, 2006

Nasaka authority seizes mobile phones on border

Nasaka authority recently seized a number of mobile telephone sets that were being used around Maungdaw Township, Burma. The mobile phones were taken from Bangladesh illegally by telephone holders in Burma, said a mobile phone holder.

Last week, Nasaka authority seized 20 mobile telephone sets from Nga Khura village tract under Maungdaw Township. In March alone the authority seized about 700 mobile phone sets throughout Maungdaw Township. All were taken from Bangladesh illegally, said an official from Nasaka.

A mobile phone holder confirmed that his mobile set was also seized by Nasaka authority last week but it was an old one. He in fact had two mobile sets. He luckily concealed the newer mobile set in his house.

At present, over 5000 mobile telephone sets taken from Bangladesh are still being used in Maungdaw but people are secretly using mobile phones in Maungdaw in order to avoid arrest by the authority, the phone holder said.

A mobile phone selling manager from Teknaf told Narinjara yesterday that he knew that Burmese people are using mobile phone sets from Bangladesh and confirmed that there are over 1000 mobile phones in Maungdaw Township alone.

Burmese people, therefore, have been buying mobile telephones for about 100000 Burmese kyats from Bangladesh, and people living in the border area are widely using mobile phones from Bangladesh.