Junta forces OB alcohol sale in 17 villages again
May 11, 2007: The Burmese Army has ordered the sale of OB alcohol in 17 villages in Than Tlang Township, Chin state, Myanmar (Burma) for the second time since the second week of March.
OB alcohols seized in Mizoram
Sergeant Lin Htwe from Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) 268 based in Lungler village, brought the OB alcohol in a commandeered jeep and distributed it to villagers to be sold at Kyat 7,000 per bottle in each village in Than Tlang, a border visitor from Chin state said.
He directed village heads that all the bottles should be sold by the last week of this month or the first week of next month.
OB alcohol to the tune of 15 to 20 bottles, have to be sold per village depending on the population. The alcohol was brought from Hakha, capital of Chin state and was sent to border areas by civilian vehicles.
It is learnt that the army sent OB alcohol to the villages of Tlanglo, Tlangpi, Lungding, Farrawn, Vangzang, Sopum, Sihhmuh, Zangtlang, Thangzang, Ruakhua, Ruabuk, Dawn, Ralpel, Fungkah, Thau, Bungtlang, and Lungler.
In March too the army based in Lungler forced villagers to sell OB alcohol of the value of Kyat 1.5 million to nine villages in Than Tlang Township. But the villagers felt that the alcohol was not suitable in their villages and other places either. So they destroyed all of it and then paid the money to the army after collecting funds by way of donations.
"Each village's share is almost Kyat 200,000. It is not possible to donate so much money instead of selling the alcohol. Therefore some villages have to sell in some places. Now the villagers are quarrelling amongst themselves about it," the border visitor said.
It is difficult to ascertain whether all the villages will destroy the alcohol this time. Some villagers may go and sell it in Mizoram, India, he added.
A local newspaper in Mizoram yesterday said that the authorities seized 141 bottles of OB alcohol in Aizawl, Mizoram. Some people feel that the alcohol which the army gave to the villagers in Myanmar might have come into Mizoram.
A bottle of OB has to be mixed with four bottles of water and it is sold for Rs. 200 which is equivalent to Kyat 5,200. This is the first time OB alcohol has been seized in Aizawl. It happened soon after the Myanmar Army forced people to sell OB alcohol to villagers in March. – KNG.
