By Mg Dagon / MPA
Disappearances in Yangon have been rising steadily, with residents attributing the surge to military junta abductions for forced service.
In late February 2025, a 14-year-old disabled high school student vanished on his way to an exam in Thuwunna Township. As of Thursday, his family remains unaware of his whereabouts, according to a close associate.
“He has a disability in one leg. He left to take an exam and never returned. It has now been about two weeks,” the source said.
Despite the family’s efforts to locate him by inquiring at the Thuwunna police station and military installations in Yangon, they have received no information about his whereabouts.
A man from the same ward as the missing student stated, “His parents have tried everything to contact him. They asked at the police station and military bases, but no one provided any information. They are extremely worried.”
In a similar incident, a young woman walking with her mother in Thingangyun Township was reportedly abducted by a car in early March, according to a 40-year-old man familiar with the case.
“They were walking their dog together, and her mother was close by. Suddenly, an Alphard car pulled up and took the daughter. The mother tried to stop them, but she couldn’t keep up with the car,” he explained.
Since her disappearance, the young woman has been unable to contact her family.
Beyond these abductions, the military junta has been openly detaining civilians for forced conscription, fueling fear among Yangon’s youth.
Eyewitnesses report that junta troops have been seizing young people at crowded bus stops in the evenings, forcing them into military vehicles.
A young man from South Dagon Township, who witnessed a conscription raid, shared, “A vehicle arrived, and junta soldiers took two young men waiting for a bus after work. It happened right in front of me.”
In cases of forced conscription, local junta authorities typically inform the families of those taken.
However, Yangon residents say that in abductions involving unknown individuals, families who inquire at police stations or military bases are met with silence.
A local junta administration member, speaking anonymously, said, “After conscription arrests, the military usually informs the detainees’ families through ward administrators.”
With forced conscription and unexplained disappearances becoming increasingly common, young people in Yangon now fear leaving their homes after dark.
