Burmese authorities seized hundreds of boxes of shock tube detonators, a necessary element of explosive devices, at the Man Weing border gate in Muse, on Shan State’s border with China.

According to officials at the Muse police station, police seized 318 boxes of the detonators at around 10:00 a.m. on May 25 after searching a vehicle they had deemed suspicious, despite the car being listed as having permission to cross the border during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The detonators are valued at more than 130 million kyat (US$92,500).

“The car comes from China. They illegally transported the detonators. Now we are hunting down the driver and the owner of these detonators,” a police officer from Muse Myoma police station told SHAN.

Police have opened a case charging the driver, whoever gave him the order to transport the detonators and the owner of the detonators as violating Article 23 of the Explosive Device Law.

There have been other seizures of narcotics and illegal weapons in Muse Township this month, including three pistols, four magazines of ammunition, and 27 bullets for a 9-millimeter gun in Nawng Moon village on May 24.

Police also arrested 10 Chinese nationals allegedly in possession of weapons and narcotics worth 1.8 billion kyat (nearly $1.3 million) in Swam Sor ward on May 15.