A police lance corporal from Taungup township ofRakhine State, defected to the Arakan Army (AA) along with his family members.Unwilling to serve the military junta, the police officer also carried arms andammunition with him.

A Taungup resident identified him as Kyaw Htay,originally hailing from Kyauktaw township, who took his wife and 15-year-oldson on Sunday to leave the government forces.

"I believe around six people defected. They tookweapons and their families to join the AA. Many individuals now do not want toserve the junta. So the number of defections is on the rise," added theresident.

Many high-ranking police officers have minimal trustin their forces. Many seniors instructed their juniors not to leave their postswithout information. Now the security in police stations has been tightened.

"Nowadays, the police personnel rarely leavetheir posts. Otherwise they come with additional armed personnel," statedthe resident.

Taungup, a prominent district-level town, is home tothe 5th military operations command (MOC-5) and also the 346th & 544thlight infantry battalions.

The residents informed that the soldiers stationed atKaing Shay bridge of  Taungup locality, start inspecting passing allpassengers on the road. Often they are collecting money and also confiscatinggoods from the vehicles.

The AA issued a warning stating that if the conflicterupts in Taungup, the junta forces may resort to airstrikes on the villages.So they advised the residents to remain prepared for such incidents.

Currently, 40 percent of Taungup population have fledpre-empting conflicts.

Earlier on 27 January, 12 soldiers stationed at theirassigned checkpoints in Taungup locality fled and surrendered to the AA.