98 criminal cases, including 4 homicides, have occurred between January and April 2016 in Ye Township, Mon State, according to Ye Township Police Force.
Included in the 98 criminal cases, were 4 homicides, 16 deaths, a robbery case, 2 rapes and 34 other cases as well as 41 prevention cases. Of the four homicides, 3 cases took place in Abaw Kyar-tan village, which is located on the coast where fishermen are dependent on the ocean for work.
“3 homicidal cases took place at the sea. They were fighting. There were misunderstandings and some fishermen stabbed the others to death. And, they proceeded to throw them into the water. A rape case also took place here,” said Police Chief Myint Taw, of Ye Township.
There were 16 death cases beginning in January 2016, in Ye Township, averaging at 4 cases per month. The deaths occurred with raft fishermen. In some cases, they were deaths at sea, some died before reaching hospital, others died of hunger and thirst while some people died in other ways, according to the police chief Myint Taw.
It is reported that because fishermen work at sea for many days, some would have concerning health problems.
The police chief Myint Taw also stated that older fishermen over 60 should retire to land. If they are working at sea and die, they will be processed as death cases. If such cases take place, employers will become involved with the cases and police will have to manage more cases. Therefore, in order to lessen the cases, employers should work with the police.
“Here, we have people die at sea, while some returned home and then died. We are not sure where the deaths took place,” said U Myint Thant, secretary of Abaw Fishermen Association.
Last year, in Ye Township, there were a total of 332 criminal cases; and in the area, under the control of Ye Town Police Force alone, 225 criminal cases occurred. Comparatively, there were 44 criminal cases in Lamine Sub-township and 33 cases in Kawzar Sub-Township.
