Reuters demands release of its journalists arrested in Myanmar's Rakhine

Reuters news agency has called on Myanmar to immediately release its two journalists who were arrested for possessing 'important secret papers' obtained from two policemen who had worked in Rakhine state.

Myanmar border guard police officers patrol the beach near makeshift camp at the Myanmar-Bangladesh border near the town of Maungsaw, Rakhine State Source: AAP

The region has suffered violence, that has been widely blamed on security forces and forced more than 625,000 minority Rohingya Muslims to flee into neighbouring Bangladesh.

The Ministry of Information said Wednesday the journalists and policemen will be charged under the country's colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries penalties of up to 14 years in prison.

Reuters said Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo had been missing since late Tuesday night.

"Reuters reporters Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been reporting on events of global importance in Myanmar, and we learned today that they have been arrested in connection with their work," Stephen J. Adler, president and editor In chief of Reuters, said in a statement.

"We are outraged by this blatant attack on press freedom. We call for authorities to release them immediately," he said.

The ministry posted a photo of the two journalists in handcuffs, standing behind a table bearing documents, cellphones and currency.

It said they had collected "information and important secret papers related to the security forces" from the policemen, who had earlier worked in Rakhine but were now in Yangon, the country's largest city.

Rakhine state is the epicenter of the Myanmar military's brutal security operation against Rohingya Muslims.

The campaign, launched in August in response to attacks on police outposts, has been condemned by the United Nations as "ethnic cleansing" and those fleeing have described widespread rights abuses by security forces.

The military, which is charge of security in northern Rakhine, and the civilian government have barred most journalists and international observers from independently traveling to the region.

Journalists in Myanmar are facing renewed harassment, with several arrested in recent months. Two foreign journalists along with two of their Myanmar associates are currently awaiting trial on new charges after already being sentenced to jail for illegally flying a drone over parliament.