Conscription Fuels Myanmar Human Trafficking Crisis as Cop Sold into Forced Labor

A regime police officer assigned to the Mon State Parliament security detail was reportedly abducted by a military recruitment officer and sold as a fishing worker in the state, according to sources close to the police force.

The victim, identified as police officer Zaw Win Tun, was beaten and abducted last Friday afternoon by three men—including one claiming to be an army major—while he was paying homage at a local pagoda in Mawlamyine town.

He was then taken to Kyaikkhame, a resort town in Thanbyuzayat Township, and sold to a labor broker supplying the regional fishing industry. His captors forced the victim to demand advance wages of 1.2 million kyat from the broker. Sensing something was wrong, the broker helped the victim report the incident at the Kyaikkhame police station.

Following the report, Kyaikkhame police raided a residence and arrested the three suspected kidnappers from Mawlamyine: U Tin Than (51), Tin Min Htut (46), and Phyo Ko Ko (38).

Authorities are currently prosecuting the trio under the Anti-Human Trafficking Law. During the arrest, police discovered an ID card on U Tin Than, which identified him as a recruitment assistant for the Mawlamyine Military Recruitment Unit Office.

“News about the military kidnapping a cop and selling him into the fishing industry is the talk of the town,” a Mawlamyine resident said. “The authorities deny military involvement, but the whole city knows these are the same guys who are kidnapping people for military conscription and fishing boats. Even if they aren’t official military, they’re definitely connected.”

Meanwhile, regime authorities and military-linked gangs have been abducting healthy men from homes, streets, and buses in major cities across the country—including Yangon and Mandalay—to fulfill conscription quotas. This aggressive recruitment push comes after the Conscription Law was activated in February 2024, allowing the depleted military to draft men aged 18 to 35 for two years of service.

Enforcement of the law has forced thousands of young people to flee the country or join anti-regime armed resistance groups. To meet their monthly conscription quotas, regime forces and proxy groups are frequently bypassing legal procedures and snatching men off the streets.

Residents in Yangon’s Tamwe Township recently intervened as two men attempted to randomly abduct a young man off the street. One suspect escaped, but a viral video of the incident shows the captured man claiming to be a police officer.

A Yangon resident also reported that regime forces are using civilian vehicles to abduct young customers at a crowded neighborhood liquor store for conscription.

The regime’s forced-conscription law has fueled a lucrative human trafficking market, with youth routinely kidnapped and sold to military units by local administrators desperate to fill their monthly draft quotas.