According to the Indian sources, the detained Myanmarese soldiers had crossed the border illegally and were intimidating farmers on the Indian side of the border, when they were detained. Local sources claimed that the soldiers had demanded 100,000 Myanmarese Kyat from a Mizo farmer, and threatened him with weapons when he refused to pay the amount.
Personnel from Assam Rifles were undertaking routine patrol missions when they spotted the Myanmarese soldiers near the village of Ngur, who were armed with AK-47 machine guns and other weapons. The paramilitary forces detained the Myanmarese and handed them over to the local police department. An official from the Champhai police station informed the media that the detained foreigners will be produced before a magistrate within the next few hours.
Meanwhile, the Indian officials estimate that around 60,000 Myanmarese citizens live in Mizoram illegally, and local Mizo groups have threatened violence against what they see as an “influx of foreigners”. The illegal refugees, most of them belong to the Kuki-Chin ethnic group claims that they face harassment and discrimination in Myamnar.
Recently the Union ministry of home affairs (MHA) had asked the Mizoram state government to take necessary steps to check the influx of ethnic Chin in to its territory. In a related development, the Mizoram police deported 16 Myanmarese citizens last week. The state government of Mizoram claimed that they have so far deported more than 300 Myammarese nationals, after the directive was received from the MHA.
Ethnic tensions are not new in Myanmar, which is having a population of only around one million. Most of the population is Christian Mizo, but recently a large number of Buddhist Chakma from Bangladesh has settled down there, making up close to 8% of the population. The state is also home to another minority, the Hindu Reang (Kau-Bru). Almost all the Reang were driven out from Mizoram after the ethnic riots of 1990s, and now live in the refugee camps in neighbouring states.