August 19, 2023
In the Tanintharyi Region, according to people close to Dawei prison, many senior prison staff, including the prison’s deputy warden, were being detained and investigated.
Last August 14, a man close to the prison said that around noon, the Military Council troops raided the house of U Thu Rein Tun, the deputy warden of Dawei Prison, in the Dawei Prion compound.
“The military army invaded. The day before that, they raided the staff houses from the Dawei Prison Compound. Perhaps, they didn’t seize anything. He is the deputy warden at Dawei Prison with three stars. “It is a raid,” he said.
When the military council raided the home of the deputy warden, it was known that they seized phones, WY pills, ICE, and a large amount of marijuana.
A person close to the prison said, “The drugs in his house are WY. ICE and phones are also tapped screens. There are also keypad phones included. It’s quite a lot, and not sure whose stuff it is. Prisoners may also be,” he added.
After the seizure of those items, starting on August 15th, a resident of the prison compound, who did not want to be named, said that Dawei Deputy Prison Warden U Thu Rein Tun and around 20 senior officials in Dawei prison, including former Dawei prison warden U Aung Naing Phay, were inspected by the military council.
“When the stuff was seized, there was the warden of the prison, a retired warden, and senior officials involved. There are about 20 people in all. They were kept in Dawei prison and were not even allowed to come out. They were investigating,” he said.
In a telegram channel of the military council, it was reported that some of the prison staff were corrupt in Dawei prison and that many drugs and phones were found during the inspection.
After these events, Dawei prison became much stricter than before, and last July, when the former Minister of Security and Borders visited Dawei prison, drugs and phones were confiscated from prison officials and prisoners, according to people close to the prison.
Some resources in prison said, “In prison, it’s more strict. When the parcel is sent, it has to be sent individually. The inspection is coming in now and then, so it’s not convenient anymore. There are staff outside as well as police and soldiers,” he said.
According to information sources in the prison, the prison staff who seized the drugs when the former Minister of Security and Borders visited the prison were prosecuted and the prisoners are being sentenced to punishments in prison and solitary confinement.
According to information sources close to the prison, until now, senior prison staff, including Deputy Warden U Thu Rein Tun, have been detained in Dawei Prison and investigations are ongoing.
Currently, 20 senior prison staff members, including the deputy warden, are being inspected by the military council soldiers, and they are still being investigated. There are more than 1,000 prisoners in the Dawei Prison, and some political prisoners, including democracy activist Ko Zin Lin Oo, are among those being punished in the prison, according to local news sources.
News – Naw Ae Ni
Photo: CJ
Phar Si Than (People’s Radio Myanmar)
