Arrests were made in Myanmar’s Rakhine state when people illegally removed earth from the Mrauk-U site. The removal of earth appears to be in conjunction with construction rather than archaeological looting.
28 arrested for Mrauk-U archaeological site earth removal
Mizzima, 10 March 2016
Police arrested 28 people illegally removing earth from the Mrauk-U archaeological site in Arakan State on 5 March, according to U Nyein Lwin, the Director General of the Mrauk-U Archaeology Department.
He said: “I had issued a strict notice prohibiting any digging activity in those ancient areas but they did not follow my direction. So I went to the location along with other officials and finally ordered them to arrest the offenders.”
Mrauk-U is an archaeologically important site containing many ancient forts. Previously Battalion LIB 378 of the Burma Army occupied the site, but they have since moved to another area.
Full story here.
Is it open for tourists again? I tried to go several years ago and only got to sitwe with it too insecure to travel further and restricted for tourism.
Yes, it’s been open for at least a couple of years. A great place to see.