The junta is increasingly abducting young men and either conscripting or extorting them in Hkamti Town, in Hkamti Township, northern Sagaing Region.
Since the first week of December, junta troops and township administration officials have enforced strict checks at Hkamti Town's entry and exit points. During those checks they have been targeting young men and arresting them. So far at least 10 young men have been arrested and abducted by the junta from those checkpoints.
It is believed that they have been forcibly conscripted into the army and taken away for military training.
A source close to the township administration office said to NMG: “The arrests have increased significantly these days. Recently, a clerk from the general administration office escorted the detainees onto a plane and sent them to an undisclosed location. The destination was not revealed. The junta has not disclosed the identities of the detained youths or allowed them to contact their families. As far as I know, most of the detainees are Naga ethnic youths.”
He added that the checks and arrests are mainly happening on the Hkamti to Homalin, the Hkamti to Nansibon and the Hkamti to Lahe roads.
He said: “The junta is making arrests at checkpoints along those roads. As far as I know, three people were intercepted and detained at the Chindwin checkpoint on the Hkamti-Lahe Road and another checkpoint on the Hkamti-Nansibon Road, and were eventually dragged into the junta’s bases.”
In addition to these three, about a further seven youths were arrested and abducted on the Hkamti to Homalin Road, according to Hkamti Town residents.
Previously, on 6 December, the junta arrested and took away 10 young people using the internet at a Starlink internet cafe in Hkamti Town and ordered the cafe to close, according to a woman who lives in downtown Hkamti.
She said: “When the junta raided an internet cafe, many young people were arrested. The exact number is unknown, but I heard at least 10 were detained. The junta troops also confiscated Starlink equipment.”
But this time the junta did not just conscript the youths and take them away.
Instead they demanded 5 million MMK from the youths’ families for each youth’s release, according to Hkamti Town elders. It remains unclear as to what happened and whether the youths were ever released.
A town elder said that since the beginning of December the junta has been targeting youths for arrest in Hkamti Town as well as at the checkpoints on the routes out of town. But, rather than conscripting them, they are demanding that their families pay to have them released.
He said: “At night, soldiers hunt down youths and arrest them, then demand money from their families for their release. They use such despicable methods to extort money. It's not just the soldiers—police and administrative officials are also involved in this process, sharing the money among themselves. Even if some families pay 5 to 6 million MMK, the junta troops are reluctant to release the captives and demand even more money.”
The main forces operating in Hkamti Township are the junta and their allies, the Shanni Nationalities Army (SNA), and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim - Ang Mai (NSCN-AM), a Naga ethnic armed organisation.
