27 April 2026 By Poesangle
LASHIO, Myanmar — Families in northern Shan State are desperately calling for the release of more than 70 local residents who were detained by the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) last week near the town of Lashio.
Witnesses report that on 21 April, approximately 50 MNDAA soldiers established a temporary checkpoint on the Lashio-Namtu road near E-Nai village. Using a crackdown on drug use as justification, the soldiers allegedly rounded up dozens of travellers and residents from nearby villages, including 10-Mile Hill and Taung Ta Long.
“We are pleading for the release of our children if they have committed no crime,” a woman from E-Nai village told MPA. “There are families waiting in agony. Some are waiting for their sons, others for their husbands. We don’t even know where they have been taken. Many of us are too worried to eat or sleep.”
Local sources claim the detainees, mostly young and middle-aged men, were transported toward Hsenwi, a town currently under MNDAA control. While elderly travellers were reportedly allowed to pass, the selective detention of young men has sparked fears of forced military recruitment.
“They claimed they were arresting drug users, but it is impossible to find 70 users in a single day at one checkpoint,” said an eye-witness who narrowly avoided the roundup. “It is clearly a pretext for forced conscription. If it were truly about drugs, they would allow the parents to meet the detainees. Instead, there has been total silence.”
The MNDAA, which administers the region as part of its “Special Region 1,” has previously stated its commitment to a drug-free territory. However, residents in Lashio and surrounding areas report frequent incidents of young men being taken from the streets of Mae Han and Khey Nin, leading many to avoid major roads for fear of being pressed into service.
“The Kokang forces are acting without accountability,” a Lashio resident added. “Using the label of ‘addict’ to recruit new soldiers is becoming a widespread tactic in almost every village.”
As northern Myanmar remains a patchwork of territories controlled by competing ethnic armed groups and the military junta, civilians find themselves increasingly caught in the crosshairs of administrative overreach. For the families of the 70 missing men, the lack of transparency from the MNDAA has turned a routine journey along a local road into a nightmare of uncertainty.
