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...While all-out street brawls might not be an everyday occurrence in Hlaing Tharyar, the township is awash with crime – everything from fistfights, robberies, rapes and extortion to assaults and home detentions by lenders against debtors.
A senior police officer from the Hlaing Tharyar Myoma Police Station said some of these cases are brought to the attention of police, but many others are “solved” by calling in local toughs who rely on intimidation.
Among the obstacles to maintaining rule of law in the township are the huge growth in population, and an insufficient police force. Last year’s census identified 684,700 residents, about half of whom are squatting illegally on land they do not own or rent. Many of these squatters are thought to have migrated to the area in the wake of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008...
