A young man was forcibly recruited into military service after taking a taxi from an interstate bus terminal in Yangon, according to family members of those who were detained. On September 2, Daw Ma Gyi Htun, age 50, and her nephew Maung San Tin, age 20, arrived at the Dagon Ayar Highway Terminal in Hlaing Tharyar from Bogale Township via a shared taxi. They then hired a taxi to travel to their relatives’ home in Ward 122 of East Dagon Myothit Township.
The taxi driver told them he would only depart once he found two more passengers and asked Daw Ma Gyi Htun and Maung San Tin to wait in the vehicle. When Daw Ma Gyi Htun stepped out briefly to use the restroom, the taxi driver immediately drove away with her nephew Maung San Tin still inside. When Daw Ma Gyi Htun returned, she found both her nephew and the taxi were gone. When she tried calling her nephew’s phone, it was switched off. She reported the incident to a security police officer at the Dagon Ayar Terminal, but he merely told her not to worry and did not file a case.
Later that night around 8 PM, Maung San Tin managed to make a phone call informing that he had been taken to a military recruitment center in Shwepyithar Township and was being forced into military service. When family members went to inquire at various recruitment centers in Shwepyithar Township, they received no answers about his whereabouts and have been unable to contact him since his phone remains switched off. According to a relative of Maung San Tin, during the brief phone call he made, he said the taxi driver and another male passenger had forcibly taken him, threatening him with physical harm if he did not comply quietly, before delivering him to the military recruitment center. The family has filed a missing person report with local police stations regarding Maung San Tin’s disappearance.
