Couple arrested for faking kidnapping to extort money from parents citing conscription

In Yangon, a young man and his doctor girlfriend were arrested for faking a kidnapping to extort 1 million kyats from his parents, using the situation of being conscripted into the military as a pretext to spend more time with his girlfriend, according to propaganda newspapers of the interim government. In Myanmar, due to the conscription law forcibly implemented by the military junta, young people are being arrested on the streets, and parents are paying millions of kyats to get them released. This incident is a case of exploiting public fear and economic hardship to extort money from family members. Maung Nyein Chan U, residing in Sangain Township, Yangon Region, lost contact with his family on June 25 while going to work, prompting his mother to post a missing person advertisement on social media. Subsequently, on June 27, a man contacted his mother by phone, claiming to have kidnapped Nyein Chan U, and threatened her to remove the missing person advertisements and pay 1 million kyats for his release. Similarly, on the morning of June 30, Nyein Chan U himself, disguising his voice and pretending to be the kidnapper, called his mother again, threatening that if the money was not transferred, her son would be included in the interim government's military conscription list, and demanded that 1 million kyats be transferred to his KBZ Pay account. Following an investigation based on the family's complaint, around 12:00 PM on the same day, Nyein Chan U and his girlfriend, Dr. Khine Sue Yee, were arrested together at a hotel in Tamwe Township. They confessed that they had cut off contact with his family to spend more time with his girlfriend and had faked the kidnapping, and therefore, both will be further prosecuted in accordance with the legal procedures of the interim government, it was reported.