Two soldiers, including a 17-year-old who were forcibly recruited as porters by the military council, have defected to the revolutionary forces without weapons, according to an official from Ayeyarwady Battalion 3 – P26002. The two individuals, originally from Mandalay Region and Ayeyarwady Region, were forcibly taken as porters by military council troops on May 18 and subsequently conscripted into military service against their will.
According to the Ayeyarwady Battalion 3 official, one of the defectors has been serving with their battalion since June 25, while the other expressed a desire to return to his family and was allowed to do so after necessary security checks. The defectors made initial contact through Facebook with the battalion’s intelligence officer, and ground forces helped facilitate their escape. Due to the need to pass through military checkpoints during their escape, they were unable to bring any weapons with them.
The two new recruits were from Training Batch 10 at No. 6 Training School in Oaktwin and managed to escape while being transferred to Engineering Battalion 911 in Taungoo. Ayeyarwady Battalion 3 has issued calls for others who are in the military council’s forces, whether through forced porter recruitment or other circumstances, to contact revolutionary forces if they wish to defect. The battalion emphasizes that they will assist those who want to leave the military council’s forces and join the revolution.
