Travelers have reported increasingly severe extortion and physical abuse by military and police forces at Yangon’s No. 3 checkpoint and the junction checkpoint between the expressway and old Bago road. Multiple government agencies including the military, police, traffic police, immigration department, and municipal authorities have established checkpoints where they conduct inspections of passing civilians and vehicles.
Officials are checking citizens’ identification cards using electronic systems and demanding money from everyone passing through. Police officers start demanding from 5,000 kyats, while vehicle registration checks can cost up to 20,000 kyats for a car carrying five passengers. Infantry soldiers demand 10,000 kyats per vehicle, air force personnel demand between 15,000 to 30,000 kyats, and immigration and security forces each demand 5,000 kyats. Multiple agencies simultaneously extort money at each checkpoint, forcing travelers to pay quickly to avoid delays.
Additionally, military personnel are conducting thorough inspections of travelers’ mobile phones using computers and direct examination. If they find gambling-related content or evidence of liking or sharing political posts, they create problems for travelers, including arrests, physical abuse, and demands for hundreds of thousands of kyats in bribes. Young men face particularly harsh treatment, with some being forcibly recruited into military service. Checkpoint personnel have been reported to physically assault travelers who refuse to pay, with incidents of hitting faces and ears being documented.
At junction checkpoints, military, police, immigration, and other department personnel continue their extortion practices, with the situation worsening in the evening hours when many officials are reportedly intoxicated while conducting inspections. There have been reports of sexual harassment against female travelers. While complaint hotline numbers and addresses are posted at these checkpoints, local residents report that no action is taken when complaints are filed about these abuses. The systematic extortion and abuse continue despite the presence of official reporting mechanisms, leaving civilians with no effective recourse against these violations.
