Junta officers and Tangutan militia members

A joint force of the Myanmar military junta and its allied Tangutan militia group has forcibly abducted and detained more than 150 young people across Kachin State’s northern Putao District, according to local residents and sources close to the armed groups. The coordinated campaign, which began on September 10, marks an unprecedented escalation of nocturnal raids, street snatchings, and sweeping arrests targeting youth for involuntary military conscription. The joint sweeps have targeted residential urban wards in Putao, Machanbaw, and Kawnglanghpu towns, alongside nearby agrarian villages and remote gold mining camps. "I personally saw the detained young people on September 18. There were around 150 of them in total being held at the Tangutan militia group’s headquarters," a source close to the militia reported. "All of them have had their hair completely shaved. I heard that they will be sent south by plane. They are all local youth." The arbitrary arrests have spared few environments. On the night of September 19, fifteen youths were snatched by junta forces in Putao Town’s Kaungkahtaung Ward while accessing a commercial Starlink Wi-Fi hotspot; only one underage teenager was later released. That same night, two young men vanished while fishing in Thuttan Ward. At nearby gold mining sites, militia forces have systematically raided workers' tents under the cover of darkness. "They came directly into the tents and abducted many people. One of my son’s friends was taken," a mother from Machanbaw Town recounted. Logistically, the crackdown is a combined operation executed by the junta's Putao-based Infantry Battalion 46 (IB 46) and Machanbaw-based Infantry Battalion 137 (IB 137), alongside Tangutan militia operatives. In urban centers, troops utilize heavy military vehicles to hunt down and arrest anyone aged between 15 and 30 found outside after an 8:00 PM curfew. In rural sectors and mining zones, plainclothes police and militia members deploy civilian passenger cars to obscure their activities. The victims are currently being held in incommunicado detention inside the Tangutan militia base in Jubali Village and within the fortified perimeter of the IB 46 compound, with all family visitation strictly denied. While the regime previously pressured local administrative officials to draw up conscription lists, residents noted that these aggressive, localized kidnappings are entirely unprecedented for the remote region. The mass abductions align with a nationwide recruitment desperation following the activation of the junta's conscription law in February 2024. According to data from the Myanmar Defense & Security Institute (MDSI), the military initiated its 28th conscription training intake on September 7, having already funneled an estimated 135,000 conscripts through its previous 27 training cycles to replenish severe battlefield losses.