In the Magway Region, the military junta has sent young people to the frontline after they were arbitrarily arrested during phone and ID checks, according to local sources.
A local in Magway said that the arrested youths were not conscripts selected through a draft lottery, but were immediately sent to the frontline without any military training.
“They check phones on the street. If they find anything suspicious, they arrest them. They demand hundreds of thousands of kyat. If you can’t pay, they just send you to the frontline right away,” the local said.
A young person arrested while traveling from Magway to Taungdwingyi was sent to the border area between Arakan State and Magway Region in less than a week, according to a local who was close to the victim.
In Pwintbyu Township, ward and village administrators are reportedly extorting money from residents and threatening to send anyone who go out after 8pm to the frontline immediately, according to locals.
In Salin Township, the junta soldiers raid homes to arrest people and only those who can pay more than 5 million kyat or more are released; those who cannot are forced into military service, locals said.
In Magway Region, the junta held a lottery for the first batch of recruits. Pro-military Pyu Saw Htee members and administrators reportedly collected 20,000 kyat from each household, claiming they were for the conscripts.
For the second batch of military training, junta’s subordinates allegedly selected recruits without a lottery and extorted between 30,000 and 200,000 kyat from each household in the villages.
In addition, the junta’s subordinates allegedly arrested civilians, including young people, on the street under various pretexts and sent them to the front without calling the Pyu Saw Htee members, according to locals.
Sent by Than Lwin Times.
