Reports indicate that the military council is conducting forced recruitment for their 16th military service batch. In Yangon, Mandalay, and Myitkyina, they are openly arresting young people, including underage high school students, in broad daylight according to parents of those arrested and local residents. The military council has intensified these forced recruitment efforts due to insufficient numbers for their training program scheduled to begin in August.
In Yangon, military forces forcibly loaded five young workers onto a military truck at a bus stop in front of Ayu Hospital in Tamwe Township. Similarly, in Myaynigone Township, plainclothes informants and soldiers arrested seven young men at the Bayintnaung Junction bus stop, including Ko Kyaw Win, a 30-year-old mason from Shwepyithar Township. He was only able to make one phone call to his family before his phone was switched off, and he was taken to the Bayintnaung interrogation center.
In Myitkyina, the Palana police station arrested Maung La Alay and two other ninth-grade students from Manchein High School. Upon discovering they were minors, authorities contacted their parents demanding 1 million kyats per student for their release. In Mandalay, approximately 20 young motorcyclists were arrested under the pretext of license checks in Chanayethazan Township and were taken to the palace compound.
The father of one arrested youth attempted to secure his son’s release through payment, but recruitment officers refused the money and stated that his son would be enrolled in the 16th military service batch beginning August 15. The military council has been conducting monthly military training courses since April 2024, now reaching their 16th batch. These forced recruitment practices have created widespread fear and anxiety among young people and their families throughout these cities.
