In Pegu Division’s Myaungmyo Township and other areas including Nattalin, Magway and Danubyu, military council troops and their appointed administrators are conducting house-to-house arrests of young people to send them to military training camps. On March 13 at around 2 AM, Ko Ye Lin from Lay Eain Tan village in Myaungmyo Township was arrested when administrator Khin Myat Mon, along with hundred-household heads Than Ngwe and Than Zaw, led military council troops into his home. Military council troops have established a base at administrator Khin Myat Mon’s house and are conducting arrests of youth from nearby villages including Hton Kone, Thayet Pin Kone, Pyit Sin Kone, Lay Eain Tan and Ta Lay Ya villages, forcing young people to flee and go into hiding.
In Nattalin Township, village administrators including Kyaw Naing from Kular Tet Htun village, Hla Win, Thein Htun and Bo Myint from Shwe Kya Pin and Aung Pin Tha villages, and Thu Ya from Ma Gyi Su village are forcibly collecting military service fees within their villages. Those who cannot pay are being arrested by military council troops. Similarly in Magway Division’s Magway Township, Moe Zaw from Tat Kone village and Zaw Latt from Inn Net village are collecting 170,000 kyats per household as military service fees and sending those who cannot pay to the military. In Magway Township’s Thet Ya Kauk village and Myin Kone area, military council police are arresting young pedestrians and demanding 12 million kyats per person for their release.
In Ayeyarwady Division’s Danubyu Township Ward 14, military-appointed ward administrators are not issuing military service summons but instead conducting direct house visits to conscript youth, demanding 10 million kyats from those who can afford it while forcibly taking those who cannot pay. The military council began its first batch of military service training in May last year and is now preparing to launch its 11th batch of training. This systematic forced recruitment campaign demonstrates the military council’s ongoing efforts to bolster its forces through coercion and extortion of civilians, particularly targeting young people across multiple regions of the country.
