More than 40 people returning to Myanmar after working abroad were prevented from departing the country again at Yangon’s international airport on Thursday, sources familiar with the matter said.
The authorities’ decision to hold the workers appeared to be motivated by suspicion that they were attempting to evade the regime’s conscription for mandatory military service.
If this was the reason for the authorities’ decision to hold them, it would mean individual travelers are now subject to enforcement that previously applied primarily to employment agencies brokering offers for work abroad.
The workers stopped at the airport had applied for jobs abroad through at least five different agencies of this kind, according to an employment agency owner with knowledge of the matter.
They also all appeared to have applied for documentation through One Stop Service, an agency that collaborates with junta-controlled ministries and claims to provide. . .
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