SAGAING DIVISION – Local residents reported that the junta forces at the terrorist junta checkpoint abducted around 50 civilians returning from work on the Sagaing-Minkun Road and demanded 500,000 Kyats per person to be released.
On March 29, around 50 civilians returning home from work along the Sagaing-Minkun Road were detained by the junta forces at the Sagaing Bridge checkpoint because there were two people riding one motorcycle then demanded a ransom of 500,000 Kyats per person while the people who couldn’t afford to pay the ransom were told that they will have to join the army and were taken away.
Although the family members of around 30 of those detained people paid the ransom money and picked them up, around 20 remaining people who couldn’t pay were first detained at Shweminwun Police Station No. 2 then dragged away to the headquarters of junta infantry division 33 and drafted into the army.
“On the Sagaing-Minkun Road, the junta dog (junta council) gate on the Sagaing Bridge drafted to be used as porters, the people returning from work, using the excuse of two people sharing a motorcycle and over 50 people were taken away. Some of the detained people were released after (their families) paid for their release. There were at least 15 people who said they couldn’t pay as they were living on daily wages. They were first detained at Shweminwun Police Station No. 2 then sent straight to division 33. The people who couldn’t pay were mostly bricklayers,” said a local resident.