YANGON DIVISION – Three travelling young men from Pantanaw Township who took the cab of a Pyu Saw Htee thug in Yangon were abducted and conscripted by the junta council, according to family friends.
The three young men from Bawdikone Village in Mayan Village Tract, Pantanaw Township, Ayeyarwaddy Division were reported to have visited Yangon in the second week of November. They took a taxi of a Pyu Saw Htee thug in the city and the driver did not drive them to their destination but instead took them to the recruitment centre of the junta army. The family members tried to get them out after finding out that they were abducted but failed to do so.
It is said that the three young men were sold to the military recruitment centre by the Pyu Saw Htee taxi driver and they were reportedly already sent to the military training school in Taungdwingyi. The parents have exhausted all means to have them released but did not succeed.
“The taxi driver sold (the young men) to the military. They were sent to Taungdwingyi. When the parents found out, they went after them. Some told them to pay 50 lakhs or 70 lakhs for their release but in reality, they were not released. At the time of abduction, the army changed their identities, starting from ID card numbers and thrown into the army. The parents went after them after they found out but couldn’t get them released,” said a friend of the parents.
The taxi driver that abducted the three young men was a member of the junta subordinate Pyu Saw Htee militia. One of the three young men will reportedly be sent to the navy after passing the health check but it is not known where the other two will be deployed.
All three young men are said to be teenagers.
