By LAWI WENG
Since the military government announced in July that it will issue licenses to unregistered motorcycles, sources say about 1,000 motorcycles are being smuggled into Burma each day from Thailand and China.
The military government will stop issuing new licenses at the end of October. Authorities are registering about 300 motorcycles a day, sources say. A license, which cost about 270,000 kyat (US $223), is valid for two years.
The current price for a smuggled Honda Dream is around 2 million kyat ($1,700), say sources. A Chinese Kembo motorcycle goes for around 500,000 kyat ($420).
A motorcycle broker in Myawaddy, a Burmese border town opposite the Thai town of Mae Sot, said about 700 motorcycle are driven across the border daily to Moulmein, the capital of Mon State.
The broker, who asked to remain anonymous, said a dealer must pay a total of about 120,000 kyat ($102) in bribes to various authorities in Burma.
He said that from Myawaddy to Moulmein (60 miles) there are about 20 checkpoints manned by either police, the military or armed ethnic groups, such as the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army or Karen Peace Force, which have signed ceasefire agreements with the military regime.
In Mae Sai, the Thai border town opposite Tachilek in Shan State, local sources said perhaps a score of motorcycles are smuggled into Burma daily.
About 200 hundred motorcycles are smuggled daily into Burma from China, sources estimated. A resident of Ruili, a Chinese border town, said that before the Olympics in August, about 500 motorbikes were smuggled into Burma daily, but in the run up to the Olympics, border security was tighten and smuggling dropped off.
Burma has no motorcycle industry. Most motorcycles are imported from China, Japan and Thailand. More than 500,000 of the country’s motorcycles are not registered or licensed, according to Rangoon traffic police statistics.
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