Military Junta Arrests Rakhine Youths and Refugees in Ayeyarwady Region for Forced Conscription

Narinjara, July 18, 2026

Local sources report that police and military-aligned militias operating under the ruling military junta are intensifying arrests of Rakhine people within the Ayeyarwady Region.

The crackdown targets both newly arrived refugees fleeing conflict in Rakhine State and long-term Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) already living in the area.

On July 14, junta forces arrested six individuals from Zee Pin Kwin and Aung Zan Kwin villages in Lemyethna Township. Local sources also confirmed to Narinjara News that several Rakhine youths were detained in the Shwe Thaung Yan area during the first week of July.

These incidents follow a wave of mid-June crackdowns. On June 19, approximately 10 Rakhine residents were arrested in the Kwin Gyi village tract of Lemyethna Township under accusations of supplying information to the Arakan Army (AA). Concurrently, authorities detained more than 20 Rakhine refugees in Ye Kyi Township.

Information regarding the whereabouts of those detained remains severely limited, raising deep concerns among local communities.

"Many Rakhine people have been arrested across Ayeyarwady," a local woman from Ye Kyi told reporters. "I have only heard of detainees being brought to court three times; the rest have simply disappeared. We do not know where they were taken.

Most are being forced into military service and sent directly to the front lines. They have no contact with their families.

In June, when a Rakhine family heard their father and sons were being held at the Ye Kyi police station, they went there to wait for news. Instead, they were driven away by authorities and forced to return home empty-handed."

In the recent wave of arrests, police and junta-backed militiamen in civilian clothes have been waiting at key intersections to detain new arrivals from Rakhine State, while also targeting long-term refugees under various pretexts.

"We are hearing reports of people from Rakhine traveling through forest roads toward the Ayeyarwady division to reach Yangon and other destinations," a local man from Lemyethna Township told Narinjara News.

"Some have been caught hiding along the roads, while others are arrested right at the security gates. Long-term refugees are being detained on the grounds that they failed to report their whereabouts or register as guests on time. In reality, they are being arrested without any valid reason."

The source added that anyone detained is immediately labeled as an Arakan Army (AA) informant or soldier.

"In Lemyethna, several refugees from Gwa and Taungup townships were arrested over the last few days under these false accusations," he said. "People are being detained even when simply trying to visit family members in town. In some cases, they were arrested because they couldn't inform the local administrator in time before arriving at a relative's home."

The military junta, along with subordinate police and militias, is reportedly conducting covert operations and wiretapping along the forest routes crossing the Rakhine Yoma mountain range into Lemyethna Township. Similar crackdowns are occurring in villages near the Ngawun River and surrounding waterways.

Locals note that the military is also actively searching for and arresting war displaced civilians traveling by boat or forest paths into Ngathaingchaung, Yekyi, Thabaung, Pathein, Chaungtha, and Shwethaungyan. While the military frequently detains Rakhine refugees entering the Ayeyarwady Region, very few face formal legal prosecution; instead, the vast majority simply disappear.

Concurrently, intense frontline clashes are erupting across Yekyi, Lemyethna, and Thabaung townships in the Ayeyarwady Region, accompanied by a surge in illegal arrests and forced military conscription of local residents.

Across Ayeyarwady, Rakhine people face severe hurdles when trying to register as overnight guests. Authorities are actively hunting down those without registration, while checkpoints are specifically targeting and detaining individuals holding National Verification Cards or citizenship IDs marked with the Rakhine State code (11/).