Ta’ang National Liberation Army troops yesterday blocked the Pyidaungsu highway, the key route between Muse and Kutkhai, on the Burma-China border.

Ko Aung Aung, a car driver, said that the TNLA blocked the main highway between Muse and Kutkhai township the whole morning on April 29. They stopped every car passing by and collected car tax, (which they called “street fundraising”).

“We were very afraid, because we have never seen this kind of street fundraising before. The car driver collected money from every passenger to pay them (the TNLA soldiers). A 12-wheel truck had to pay 300,000 Kyats, while a 22-wheel truck had to pay 500,000 kyats. The truck drivers who know how to please them, paid less than hundred thousand kyats,” said a passenger called Aik Jing. “But we were only passengers, so they requested 5,000 kyats per person.”

“It was terrifying for me because I had never seen an ethnic armed group before,” a passenger from Mandalay called U Khin Nyunt told SHAN.

According to an official announcement from the TNLA, they had blocked the Pyidaungsu road between Muse and Kutkhai township from 8:00 am until noon to organize fundraising to support their group.

Burma military brigades # 11, 33, 66, 72, 88, 99 and 101 have been active in northern Shan State.