Local residents have reported that Battalion 22 in Seikphyu Township, Magway Region, is arresting young people and demanding 2 million kyats per person for their release. On April 20 at 8:30 AM, a military column of 50 personnel from Battalion 22, stationed in Tapaung village, Seikphyu Township, arrested a young man from Aung Chan Thar village. They contacted the young man’s family and demanded 2 million kyats for his release. The family had to pay the ransom, and the young man was released at 11:30 AM the same day.
In Thammagok village of Seikphyu Township, another military unit from Battalion 22, consisting of 80 personnel, has established checkpoints where they are conducting extortion and arrests of young people, demanding ransoms for their release. Meanwhile, in Yangon Region’s Hlegu Township, the administrator of Bohinkale village, Myo Thein, and his group have been deceiving young people from Ayeyarwady and Bago Regions with false promises of employment, only to force them into military service as replacement troops, according to reliable sources.
The administrator Myo Thein has deployed brokers U Than Hlaing and U Aung Khine Moe to recruit young people from Ayeyarwady and Bago Regions, promising them 6 million kyats each. However, in reality, these young people are only given 1 million kyats and are forced into military service as replacement troops. Additionally, Myo Thein and his group are collecting military service fees from local residents, demanding 70,000 kyats from each of the 850 households in the village.
