Coastal News Agency
Reports indicate continuous day and night arrests of young people for forced military service in Yangon. Three youths from Nattalin Township, security guards from Hlaing Tharyar Industrial Zone, and goldsmith Ko Chit Htoo have fallen victim to arrests by military council forces and Pyu Saw Htee members. The three youths from Nattalin Township, who came to Yangon seeking employment, disappeared suddenly on August 1st. Only after their parents conducted an extensive search did they discover their children had been forcibly recruited into military service. Among these youths, who held identification cards from Magway Region, one was confirmed to have been sent to a military training camp in the Magway area, while the whereabouts of the other two remain unknown.
Security guards from the Chinese-owned Thone Le factory in Hlaing Tharyar’s Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone were also arrested on August 15th while en route to work. They were apprehended near the ice factory on Sayar Shan Road by plainclothes personnel using a white Probox vehicle. In Yangon, these arrests have become increasingly common, targeting young people during their commutes to and from work, during nighttime hours, and during household registration checks. The military council has been particularly aggressive in conducting these operations throughout the city’s major areas under their control.
The case of Ko Chit Htoo, an ethnic Rakhine, is particularly concerning. The 29-year-old resident of Yuzana Garden City was arrested on August 3rd while traveling to North Dagon. Military council forces took him to the North Dagon General Administration Office and demanded a ransom of 100 million kyats from his family. When his family couldn’t afford the payment, Ko Chit Htoo was sent to No. 1 Training School in Taikkyi. The military council’s practice of targeting ethnic Rakhine individuals and other youths for extortion and forced recruitment has created widespread fear among residents, particularly within the Rakhine community in Yangon. These incidents reflect the military council’s systematic approach to forced recruitment and extortion, especially in urban areas under their control.
