Young people abducted in Yangon and sold to Myanmar’s junta as unwilling conscripts

Mizzima

Brokers in Yangon Region are luring young people with false job offers, abducting them, and selling them to the junta for forced conscription, according to the Rangoon Scout Network (RSN) and local residents.

During the second and third weeks of November, people seeking work were arrested and forcibly recruited through company employees and employment brokers.

This month, three youths from Kone Ta La Paung village in Mingalardon Township were detained by job brokers and handed over to the junta in exchange for payment, an RSN official told Mizzima.

“The broker lied to them, saying he had jobs available, and then sold them to the military. They were sent to the army in Taungoo. Overall, more arrests are happening in Dagon Myothit Ward 4, Thaketa, and North Okkalapa townships, where they target low-income communities,” he said.

In a similar case on 2 September, a young man who had travelled to Yangon from a remote area was reportedly lured by a taxi driver in Hlaing Tharyar Township and sold to the junta, according to both local residents and the RSN.

Likewise, in early November, a young man in Yangon’s Pabedan Township was abducted after meeting a man posing as a broker who claimed he could arrange accommodation, according to the victim’s friend.

“We lived together. He wanted to move downtown, so he posted online looking for a roommate. A fake broker called, saying he could show him a place. After that, he stopped answering his phone. Two days later, I learned he had been conscripted and sold for 1.5 million kyat. His mother tried to get him released, but officials said he couldn’t be recalled because he was already registered in the army,” he said.

Additionally, two men in their 20s working for a well-known private eye clinic were arrested by plainclothes officers near People’s Square at around 8 pm on 10 November and taken to the military, a source close to the pair told Mizzima.

“Two boys from our clinic were returning from work when they were arrested. They were questioned about the clinic and then taken away. When we called, the officers demanded 180 lakh (1.8 million) kyat. The boys earn low salaries and couldn’t afford it, nor could their parents. We later learned they had been sent to the army the next day,” he said.

Taxi drivers and labour brokers – including members of the Pyu Saw Htee militia and their associates – are reportedly selling people suddenly seized from the streets to the junta for between 150,000 and 300,000 kyat each, according to residents of Thaketa, South Dagon, and Hlaing Tharyar.