Junta authorities in northern Burma’s Kachin State on Sunday began to seize widely used Chinese mobile phones from civilians, local residents said.

Following the seizure of several Chinese mobile phones from officials of the Kachin Independence Army, a Kachin ceasefire armed rebel group, on November 17 night, authorities on Sunday began to seize phones from civilians in several towns in Kachin state including capital Myit Kyina, Bamaw, Loije, Man Wungyi, and Nam San Yan.

Chinese mobile network is available in Kachin state and parts of Shan State in Burma. The Chinese mobile phones, which operate through the Chinese satellite network, are widely used both in Kachin state and northern Shan state.

“The local police are aware who all are using Chinese mobile phones. So, they [authorities] just went into the houses and seized the phones. But the people were not arrested nor were action taken against them,” a local resident of Myit Kyina Town told Mizzima.

The seizure of Chinese mobile phones also included those used in public call offices, local residents said. However, mobile phones from a few villages close to the KIA headquarter in Laiza, have not been seized despite orders from local authorities.

Chinese mobile phones are widely used in Kachin state as well as in Northern Shan state and the seizure of mobile phones from Kachin state alone may have been an attempt by the authorities to control flow of information from the state, the All Kachin Student Union (AKSU) said.

Though the KIA, the main armed group in Kachin state has expressed support to the ruling junta’s seven-point roadmap, lately there has been sporadic anti-junta activities in the state.

“In Kachin state, students have frequently staged anti-junta movements. Poster and wall writing campaigns like ‘Than Shwe – Killer’ ‘No Dam’ among others have been in evidence. Their activities have been reported in the media outside the country. So, may be the government wants to contain such flow of information,” the AKSU spokesperson told Mizzima.

“The Chinese mobile phones are also widely used in northern Shan state. For instance Muse and Man Wungyi are close by but the phones in Muse have not been seized. So, we believe this is aimed at checking flow of information from Kachin state,” added the AKSU spokesperson.

However, a source close to the Kachin Independence Organisation, the political wing of the KIA, said the seizure of Chinese mobile phones began after the KIO leaders refused to issue a statement to refute the Burmese pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s statement on a dialogue in the interest of ethnic minorities.

The Burmese Cultural Minister Khin Aung Myint, after meeting several ceasefire armed groups in Shan State, met KIO officials on November 16 and pressured the KIO to issue a statement countering Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s statement.

“The KIA officials flatly rejected the Minister’s request. The minister also told the KIO officials not to leak information regarding his request,” the source said.

While the reason behind the authority’s crackdown on Chinese mobile phones is still unclear, some local residents said it could be an effort to mop up revenue for the Myanmar Post and Telecommunication Department, which earns revenue from telephone calls.

Most of the public telephone booths in major towns in Kachin state use Chinese mobile phones and do not make any payment to the Myanmar Post and Telecommunication Department, local residents said.

“It is so much more convenient to buy and use Chinese mobile phones. While Burmese mobile phones (operated by the Myanmar Post and Telecommunication) cost about 3,000,000 kyat the Chinese mobile phones cost about 100,000 kyats. And the Burmese phones have a poor network back up but the Chinese phones are superb,” a local resident in Myit Kyina said.