Four as-yet unidentified men robbed women working at a currency exchange venue in downtown Muse at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

The perpetrators arrived by car, witnesses said, and entered the building and threatening the employees with knives, before seizing 10 million kyat (US$6,960) in cash and heading off toward the area known as Mingarlar Muse.

“Three of the men stepped out from the car. We thought that they were there to change money. When they arrived, they robbed our money. They were carrying knives,” Nang May, one of the employees, told SHAN. 

Although there were many eyewitnesses during the robbery, Nang May said that no one intervened out of fear. 

“Actually we were sitting together. They tried to take our bags of money. They could only take away the bag of Pi Mee,” she said, referring to her coworker.

A police officer in Muse confirmed the incident to SHAN, and have opened a file to investigate the crime.

“We are trying to arrest the robbers. We have yet to arrest them,” the officer said. 

One of the money changers, Nang Hser, said that she did not get a good look at the perpetrators’ faces, and was unable to see the license plate number on their car. 

She said that robberies are common in her line of work, and that the vast majority of money changers are women. Few to no arrests are ever made. 

“As money changers, we are afraid of everything. We have to take care of our own security,” she told SHAN, adding, “crime is getting worse in Muse.”