Woman held with expired passport, NGO clarifies
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, October 29 2023:
Police arrested a 52-year-old woman from Khwairamband Keithel area on October 23 with expired Norwegian passport.
According to sources, the woman is allegedly a member of an armed rebel group in conflict with the government of Myanmar.
The woman, identified as Mya Kyay Mon, daughter of Htunt Nyuntt, was observed behaving suspiciously in Khwairamband Keithel.
When attempts were made to communicate with her, a team from Imphal City police intervened and took her into custody.
She was reportedly sent to the foreigner detention centre after police found a passport issued by the Norwegian government, which had expired, and she failed to produce a valid visa for her stay in the state.
Sources further said that 20 Assam Rifles, while conducting a routine inspection at the Khudengthabi Check post along the Imphal-Moreh road, spotted Mya Kyay Mon travelling without valid documentation on August 9 this year on her way from Moreh to Imphal in an Eeco Van.
Upon further verification, it was learnt that she went to Nepal in 2019 and stayed there till March, 2020 .
She entered India on May 24, 2020 and stayed in Agra during the Covid-19 lockdown.
After the lockdown was lifted, she moved to different cities before finally reaching Moreh in November 2021, the sources added.
It is also said that the woman had stayed in a shelter home run by Environment and Economic Management Association (EEMA) located at Haobam Marak Irom Leikai before the ethnic conflict erupted in the state on May 3 .
Meanwhile, EEMA secretary S Radhapiyari clarified that the NGO has no relation with the arrested woman.
She had temporarily resided at the shelter home operated by her NGO after human rights activist Babloo Loitongbam and a Burmese language instructor from Manipur University brought her in February this year.
While staying in the shelter home, she was visited by some individuals from Churachandpur, who arrived in a Bolero vehicle and accompanied her to Central Jail, Sajiwa, taking food items for some inmates at the foreigner detention centre.
Radhapiyari said she repeatedly requested Babloo Loitongbam to relocate her from the shelter home stating that they are not happy with her behaviour, which shows complete disregard for the home's rules.
In response, Babloo told her that Mya Kyay Mon's paperwork was being processed, and she would be removed from the home shortly.
Following the outbreak of ethnic clashes on May 3, her NGO was facing public pressure and she asked Babloo Loitongbam about the situation.
Later, on the request of Babloo, she dropped Mya Kyay Mon at Imphal Airport on May 6 and since then she had not heard from her, Radhyapiyari said.
She was surprised when she came to know about arrest of Mya Kyay Mon from Khwairamband Keithel on October 23, which she learned from some members of Meitei Leepun, who visited her home and told her about the woman's involvement in planning the present crisis in the state.
She further said that if the allegation against her is true, she has no knowledge or involvement in Mya Kyay Mon's activities.
Detailed information about the woman should be known to Babloo Loitongbam since he was the one who brought her to her shelter home, the secretary elaborated while appealing to the public not to cast doubt on her shelter home or her NGO.