28 May 2026 By Ra Wai / MPA
A prominent local pro-junta propagandist has publicly exposed that the Myanmar military is actively executing street-level abductions—commonly known as “press-ganging” or portering—within Mawlamyine, Mon State, to fill mandatory military training quotas.
Zin Moe, an influential pro-military online figure, detailed the forced recruitment on his personal Facebook page while attempting to locate the relatives of an abductee. According to his post, a young man identified as Sithu Naing, a resident of the Ko Wa Chaung area in Mawlamyine’s Tharyar Aye Ward, was snatched by authorities while commuting home from work.
Sithu Naing was immediately funneled into a military training pipeline without his family’s knowledge. Zin Moe revealed that the young man is currently stationed as a private at the Light Infantry Battalion 1 (LIB 1) based in Thaton Township. The pro-junta blogger claimed he initiated the public appeal because Sithu Naing had reached out to him to re-establish contact with his grandparents.
“My main objective is simply to ensure that the grandparents of Maung Sithu Naing realize their grandson did not just vanish into thin air,” Zin Moe wrote in his public appeal. “They need to know that he was taken for mandatory military service and is currently serving his duty at his assigned station.”
Zin Moe requested residents and acquaintances in Tharyar Aye Ward to notify Sithu Naing’s grandparents of his whereabouts and provided a direct contact number for the conscripted soldier. The post, however, did not clarify how the isolated conscript managed to contact the pro-junta influencer from within the military barracks.
The public revelation by a regime loyalist has sent shockwaves through the local community, effectively verifying long-standing rumors of nocturnal abductions.
“We previously heard fragmented reports about youth being snatched off the streets at night in the suburban wards of Mawlamyine, but many of us initially dismissed them as mere wartime rumors,” a local humanitarian aid worker told MPA. “Now that Zin Moe has explicitly exposed it himself, the reality of these midnight abductions is undeniable. Residents must exercise extreme caution. When the regime’s own mouthpieces start exposing their internal operations, you know the threat is absolute.”
The forced disappearance of Sithu Naing aligns with a broader pattern of predatory military recruitment and subsequent financial extortion reported across Mon State. In April, a young man sitting near the Kamamin village bridge in neighboring Chaungzon Township was abducted by troops during the early evening hours. According to a source close to the local ward administration, the victim’s family was forced to pay a massive ransom of 12 million Kyat to secured his release from a military training unit situated between Chaungzon’s Phaya Gyi Kone and Paing Lawan villages.
Editor: ML
