Junta soldiers manning frequent checkpoints are extorting money from aid workers providing earthquake relief in southern Shan State, whilst also checking that none are evading conscription.

According to aid workers, the main focus of the checkpoint inspections is to check that none of the relief workers have been drafted for conscription. The junta soldiers do this by accessing a digital database on their phones, tablets and computers. The soldiers are also demanding bribes to let both aid and aid workers through each checkpoint.

A volunteer helping the earthquake hit communities in Kalaw Township, southern Shan State said to NMG: “Every checkpoint along the way is demanding money now. It used to be just the main ones, but even the smaller checkpoints are extorting now. Some checkpoints are even opening and inspecting the aid materials. Donors and aid workers are always busy repacking the packages.”

The aid convoys and volunteers are being inspected and extorted at checkpoints on the road between Pindaya and Ywangan and the two roads from Taunggyi to Inle Lake, which run down the east and west sides of the lake. The junta soldiers manning the checkpoints also frequently demand money from normal passing cars that have nothing to do with aid relief.

Junta soldiers have also been taking photos of themselves with the aid and have briefly joined volunteers involved in relief work for just long enough to take photos, so that junta propaganda outlets can use them as ‘evidence’ when they claim, wrongly, that the junta is supplying aid and relief to earthquake victims.

A local from southern Shan State involved in relief work said that soldiers taking such photos was deceitful but was not causing the aid workers major disruptions or impacting their humanitarian efforts. But, he did warn younger volunteers and donors travelling to southern Shan State from further away to be cautious because of the many junta inspections and checks for draft dodgers taking place.

He said: “At the checkpoint near Myinkadoe Village (in Ywangan Township), young people are cross-checked against the junta's digital database to see if they have been called up for conscription. Their belongings are also scanned with X-ray machines. The soldiers frequently demand money in the tens of thousands of MMK, and if there's a large amount of aid, the demand can rise to hundreds of thousands.”

Junta soldiers similarly extorted aid workers who came to help in southern Shan State after flash floods hit Kalaw Township and the Inle Lake area in September 2024. They set up checkpoints around Meneitaung Village in Hopong Township and near Inle Lake in Nyaungshwe Township where they demanded money to allow aid through.

Areas of southern Shan State, especially around Inle Lake, were badly hit by the 28 March earthquake that had its epicentre to the west of Mandalay. The residents of those areas urgently need help to rebuild, but so far there has been very little help from either the authorities or international aid organisations.