(Reuters) -For about two years, says 24-year-old Yan, a former Myanmar police officer, he risked his life pretending to serve the army junta whereas secretly spying for the armed resistance.
“I freed myself from unfair orders,” he informed Reuters from a room in a city close to the Myanmar border the place he mentioned he was taking refuge after fleeing the nation in April. Yan declined to offer his full identify due to the menace to his life.
Myanmar’s junta is dealing with the fiercest menace to its energy since seizing management in a 2021 coup because it battles an unprecedented alliance of opponents whereas weakened by some inside dissent and defections.
The junta didn’t reply to requests for remark by Reuters. It has acknowledged some lack of management.
The junta has not commented on spies inside its ranks, however pro-military social media channels have uncovered troopers who seem sympathetic to the rebels.
Opposition teams mentioned it was tough to find out what number of members of the safety forces equipped data to the resistance, and their quantity was doubtless small given the danger, however they play a vital position.
They’ve equipped intelligence, together with in regards to the transportation of army provides, that has helped opposition teams plan assaults, a spokesperson for Folks’s Objective, a gaggle that helps defectors, informed Reuters.
“We have received information which has saved lives,” the spokesperson mentioned, referring to tip-offs about impending assaults or air strikes.
‘WATERMELONS’
Yan, who joined the police power in late 2020, following within the footsteps of his brother, mentioned he turned disillusioned after the coup when he witnessed the arbitrary arrest of protesters throughout a brutal army crackdown.
“People started treating us like ghosts,” Yan mentioned. “They hated us.”
He mentioned his brother fled the nation and related Yan to opposition teams cultivating sources contained in the safety forces identified in Burmese as “watermelons” – inexperienced on the skin, showing loyal to the military, however pink, the color of the ousted Nationwide League for Democracy authorities, on the within.
Yan mentioned he crept out of the police station and despatched messages by cellphone out of sight of his colleagues, together with about routes taken by senior junta figures and the variety of police, gas, and weapons in varied locations. He mentioned he didn’t know the way the insurgent teams used the data he equipped.
Reuters couldn’t independently affirm his account.
One army defector informed Reuters it was uncommon for members of the armed forces to spy for insurgent teams however there have been many who “turned a blind eye” to insurgent actions.
MASS DEFECTIONS
Inner dissent poses a significant issue for the junta, some analysts say. Washington D.C-based think-tank the US Institute for Peace estimates as many as 8,000 individuals have fled the safety forces.
Yan and his brother, Ye, mentioned the junta was struggling to recruit whereas police had been poorly outfitted and educated, making them reluctant to combat and fast to give up, the pair mentioned.
Beforehand, army battalions had been made up of a number of hundred members however now most quantity little greater than 130, a determine analysts agree with, former military captain Htet Myat informed Reuters by cellphone.
Htet Myat, now a outstanding opposition determine serving to defectors, mentioned the latest offensive had accelerated defections.
However, stranded abroad, life is usually a arduous scrabble. Yan, who’s single, and his brother and sister-in-law have began a enterprise making and promoting material printed with leaves from their house nation.
Yan mentioned their sacrifice amounted to a fraction of that made by others.
“I did what I had to do,” he mentioned.