Burmese Guards Accepting PrePay TopUp Cards As Bribes

Security guards on the border between Bangladesh and Burma (Myanmar) are reported to be taking bribes of mobile phone PrePay top up cards from traders wishing to cross between the two countries. As mobile phones are tightly controlled in Burma, they use mobile phones connected to the Bangladeshi networks, which leak across the border for a short distance.

One trader told the Narinjara newspaper that "we have to pay 300 taka, 50 taka in a mobile prepaid phone card, two kilograms of rice, and one kilogram of cooking oil to the gate guards whenever we cross to the Bangladesh side through the border point."

The border guards do not want local currency due to continuous depreciation and take food as bribes due to the ongoing shortages.

It is illegal to use an unauthorised mobile phone in Burma, and certainly not to use one connected to an overseas network. The government is particularly keen to control the mobile phone supply as they are able to shut down the networks if political trouble arises, as occurred with the Monks last September.

The number of official mobile phones in Burma reached 265,912 at the end of 2007.

On the web: Narinjara

Posted to the site on 18th July 2008