Amid increasing forced recruitment for military service in Myanmar, junta administrators have begun extorting bribes from eligible people and their relatives to evade conscription or arrest, civilians in Mandalay Region and Naypyitaw said.
Administrators have been extorting these payments since December, according to at least five residents of Naypyitaw Union Territory and Mandalay Region who spoke to Myanmar Now.
The collections began after township-level members of the junta’s general administration department called a meeting with ward-level administrators.
Local administrators had collected around six million kyat (US $2,900) in a village of around 60 households in Wundwin Township, Mandalay Region, according to a man living there, who requested anonymity for security reasons.
The village administration collected the bribes from the 100-household elders in the villages and recorded the payments on a list, according to residents, but did not give out receipts to. . .
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