"A group of 20 armed men in plain clothes blocked the highway near Kutkai in northern Shan State on September 3 and set fire to seven southbound vehicles, after ordering their drivers and passengers to hand over their money and mobile phones. No casualties were reported in the incident, which took place at about 6pm near Namkut village, about 16 kilometres (10 miles) north of Kutkai, on the main trade route between Myanmar and China. Three of the drivers told Frontier that armed men ordered about 30 people to leave the vehicles, before splashing them with petrol, setting them on fire and fleeing. Most of the vehicles were trucks transporting textiles and other goods loaded at Muse, on the border with China. They were en route to Lashio and the Mandalay Region capital, Mandalay, their drivers said. Frontier asked the drivers who was responsible, but they were unable to identify the assailants..."