Detained forced conscripts escape past drunk junta guards in Sagaing

Twenty young men who had been arrested and forcibly recruited into the Myanmar military, escaped from a Ye-U school detention centre in Sagaing Region on Wednesday evening. The forced conscripts, all aged between 20-30 years old, escaped from High School No. 2 in Bo Aung Zay Ya Ward, Ye-U town, while the guards on duty were drunk. “The police, Pyu Saw Htee members and junta soldiers who were guarding the detainees were drunk at the time,” a township People’s Defense Organisation (PDO) official said. “We understand that they broke out of the detention room and climbed over the corrugated metal compound fence to escape.” Twelve of the escapees were taken in by the PDO and provided with food, healthcare and shelter, while the whereabouts and condition of the other eight escapees is unknown, the official said. Ye-U residents and resistance groups said that the military has been detaining young people abducted for forced military service in empty classrooms inside High School No. 2 “The school is operating normally, but since there are not many students, they keep those arrested for military service in vacant classrooms. They used to keep them at High School No. 1, but now they are at No. 2,” one resident said. Of the 26 people detained in the school, 20 escaped, while six who were in poor health remained behind. The township PDO official said that the young men had all been arrested about three to four months prior when junta troops raided and abducted young people from the streets, in restaurants, and even inside homes. Resistance forces control all 191 villages in Ye-U Township, while the military only maintains a foothold in the town. As a result, those who are forcibly recruited are held in the town before being transported to military recruitment training schools by helicopter. The breakout is the second reported escape of forcibly recruited soldiers in Ye-U. In May 2024, 19 young men escaped High School No. 1 when the guards were caught unawares. The military activated the compulsory military service law in February 2024 to address its severe troop shortage. They have reportedly recruited about 5,000 people for military service each month, accumulating to over 100,000 people in just over two years. Since the recent 27th intake, two additional military training schools have been added in Sagaing’s Kalay Township, and in Mandalay’s Thabeikkyin Township, bringing the number of conscript training locations to 27. The Myanmar Defense & Security Institute, formed by former junta soldiers who joined the Civil Disobedience Movement, reported that human rights violations were being committed at military training schools, including deaths and severe injuries to trainees who attempted to escape, as well as the torture and beatings of those who were recaptured. Myanmar Now repeatedly attempted to contact Aung Zaw Oo, the junta’s Sagaing Region spokesperson, but did not receive a reply.

Detained forced conscripts escape past drunk junta guards in Sagaing

Twenty young men abducted and detained by the junta at a high school in Ye-U escaped on Wednesday after being held for several months

Subscribe for full access

‘Be back by 7’: For Yangon’s young, a life ruled by a self-enforced curfew

Myanmar’s military is regaining ground, costing the resistance key connections

Myanmar charity worker who built a lifeline for the poor loses it all after military coup

Fear grips Mandalay as junta-backed militias and kidnappers prey on residents

Subscribe for full access

Related Articles

Myanmar junta attacks kill 12, including infant, across 4 Rakhine townships

Myanmar junta bombs religious ceremony; kills own POWs in Chin State

ASEAN envoy ends Myanmar trip with no public Suu Kyi meeting

Myanmar junta launches arson spree in Sagaing after colonel’s killing