The farmers are from Out Thakan Village under Bu Wrat Village Tract in Mrauk U Township, and they are now attempting to avoid arrest by the authority.

A village source said the 17 farmers from the village began cultivating 48.13 acres of vacant land in 1997. Afterwards, the township authority announced the farmlands were owned by the state, and locals were not allowed to cultivate the land without the authorities' permission.

After the announcement, the villagers appealed to the Chairman of Mrauk U Township to lease the lands to them on a yearly basis.

U Hla Myo agreed to lease the land to the farmers and ordered them to pay 15 tinns of paddy per acre during the harvest season to Mrauk U Township.

"We have given the paddy to the authority every year in accordance with their demand since 1997, but last year U Hla Myo asked for 60,000 kyats per acre from us. We could not pay that high amount. So now the authority has issued a warrant to arrest us. So now we are culprits because we could not pay the demand," he said.

On 22 July, 2008, a group of police led by Senior Clerk U Maung Ni and Village Chairman U Maung Hla Aung came to the village to arrest the men, but they had luckily managed to escape being arrested that day.

The village source said the police force had come to look for U Kyaw Zan, U Aung Kyaw Thein, U Kyaw Tun Oo, U Maung Gri Chay, and U Tun Aung to arrest because they could not pay the authorities' demand for leasing the farmland.