A new recruit named Ko Myo Min Aung, who was forcibly conscripted after being pulled from a passenger bus on the Yangon-Mandalay Highway, has defected to revolutionary forces, according to Ko Cartoon, the spokesperson for the Burma Revolution Rangers. On March 6 at approximately 9:30 AM, the 25-year-old soldier, who was serving with the 101st Infantry Division in Pakokku, made contact with revolutionary forces expressing his desire to defect. The Burma Revolution Rangers subsequently arranged for his safe extraction.
Ko Myo Min Aung, originally from Zi Kone village in Chaung-U Township, was forcibly recruited while traveling back home to Chaung-U from Yangon when military council troops stopped his express bus on the highway. He was taken to Meiktila, where he was forced to undergo military training before being assigned to the 101st Infantry Division in Pakokku. Unable to tolerate the military council’s forced conscription practices, he established contact with revolutionary forces to arrange his defection. The Burma Revolution Rangers provided him with security and necessary assistance upon his arrival.
The military council is currently conducting widespread forced recruitment and porter conscription across the country, compelling civilians into military service against their will. Revolutionary forces have advised civilians to exercise extreme caution while traveling and immediately contact either the Burma Revolution Rangers or other revolutionary groups if they are forcibly recruited. The Burma Revolution Rangers have also extended an invitation to current military council soldiers and militia members to defect rather than risk their lives serving the military council. They emphasize that defectors will be warmly welcomed and provided with necessary protection and support. This incident highlights the ongoing practice of forced recruitment by the military council and demonstrates the growing number of military personnel choosing to join the revolutionary movement rather than continue serving under the military council’s command.
