Narinjara News,  July 16, 2025

A local witness reported that over 20 Arakanese Rakhine youths, who had been deported to Myanmar, had been detained once more at Sittwe airport and then transported to an intelligence interrogation facility in Sittwe cantonment.

On July 9, the Military Security Forces detained and deported to Myanmar over 20 Rakhine young people who had been unlawfully detained in Malaysia. After being arrested at Sittwe airport, they vanished on their way home.

"Most of these young/middle-aged individuals came from Malaysia, but I'm not sure who or what. They were brought to Myanmar after being apprehended in Malaysia. A few of them were from Thailand too. They decided to return to Sittwe because they were made to feel uneasy and inconvenienced in Yangon. They numbered around 25 or 26, with one or two girls among them. To detain suspicious individuals, the junta government established an office at Sittwe Airport. It was the Sarapha (military intelligence) office. They were inspected by the intelligence agency, who then detained them,” he stated.

According to an individual who accompanied the youths on the plane and spoke to Narinjara, the older people on the plane that day were freed, while the younger ones were brought to the city police station at night through the airport before being taken to the Regional Command Headquarters (RCH) for questioning.

"They were brought to the airport office first. The intelligence officers then brought them in for questioning in a police car late at night. We waited to see whether they would be freed, but they weren't.

Under the conscription law, the arrested young people may have been compelled to join the army.

“Some Burmese nationals who were apprehended and deported by the Thai and Malaysian governments were simultaneously delivered to the military. This could be occurring right now. They are being taken into custody for no reason," he said.

Narinjara's inquiry revealed that the young men were kept in custody for around a week after their arrest, from July 15 until the present.

As a result of the scarcity of employment opportunities in Rakhine, many young people from Rakhine who travel to Malaysia and Thailand for employment are now being detained frequently and sent back to Burma.

The military council has also taken in some of the people who were sent back to Burma for questioning.

On July 7, junta authorities and police extorted money from several individuals traveling back to their hometown of Sittwe from Yangon by plane, and some of them are still being detained.

Due to the increasing rent prices, the lack of employment, and the military council's detention of young and middle-aged Rakhine residents in Yangon, many people who had fled Sittwe in fear of war are now returning home in 2025.

The military council has detained a large number of Arakanese people for different offenses since the resumption of hostilities in Sittwe from 2023 to 2025, and many of them are still unaccounted for and separated from their families.