Two young men were detained and sent to a military recruitment center after responding to a job advertisement for security personnel at the Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone in Hlaing Tharyar Township, Yangon Region, which promised a monthly salary of 510,000 kyats. Friends of the detained youths reported the incident to local media. The victims, Maung Zaw Htet Lin and Maung Ye Naung, both 25 years old from Thanatpin Township in Bago Region, contacted the phone number listed in a leaflet advertising security positions at the Shwe Lin Ban Industrial Zone in Hlaing Tharyar. After being instructed to come to Yangon, they arrived on May 4 to apply for the positions.
However, the two men disappeared after arriving in Yangon, and it wasn’t until May 8 that they were able to inform their families that they had been taken to the Danyin Gone military recruitment camp in Insein Township. Before arriving in Hlaing Tharyar, they had been required to send their personal information and photographs via Viber messaging app. Upon reaching Hlaing Tharyar, two men in civilian clothes arrived on motorcycles to pick them up. They were then transported to the Danyin Gone recruitment camp in a hired vehicle, and their mobile phones were confiscated. It wasn’t until May 8 that they managed to contact their families by paying to use a soldier’s phone at the Danyin Gone camp.
A friend of the two young men warned others about these deceptive recruitment practices, urging caution regarding job advertisements promising good salaries, whether online or in leaflets. They emphasized the importance of being vigilant to prevent other young people from falling victim to similar schemes where security job offers are used as a front for military recruitment. The detained youths, Maung Ye Naung and Maung Zaw Htet Lin, are scheduled to attend the 13th intake of military training beginning this month. This incident highlights the ongoing practice of forced recruitment into military service under false pretenses, demonstrating the military’s continued efforts to bolster its ranks through deceptive means.
