The fourth batch of conscripts are having to attend training in Mawlamyine Town to add manpower to junta units depleted by the high casualty numbers in Mandalay Region and northern Shan State.

Junta newspapers reported that a delegation led by the junta’s Mon State Chief Minister, U Aung Kyi Thein, gave grants to new conscripts who will be part of the fourth batch of conscripts to attend the  Mawlamyine Town Military Training School.

According to an anonymous Mawlamyine Town resident, district administrators and village heads collected money from locals on the conscription list who did not want to serve in the military and used that money to pay other people to serve in their place in the army.

The substitutes are paid 3 to 5 million kyats to serve in the army. Often they are migrant workers from other parts of the country or poor local people.

The junta also forcibly arrested and conscripted people in Mawlamyine Town.

Ko Aye Min Tun, a people’s defence force (PDF) commander in Thatton District, Mon State said that the junta has been taking prisoners serving sentences for theft and drug offences and releasing them to serve in the army on the frontlines.

He said: “They released drug offenders and thieves who were in prison and enrolled them in the army. After being trained they were sent to the front line. We have even caught some Military Council soldiers who were using drugs.”

According to the New RaMaNya Federal Force (NRFF), in Mon State more than 200 people were conscripted in the first conscription batch, 400 were conscripted in the second batch and 165 were conscripted in the third batch.

According to a report by the Burma Affairs and Conflict Study (BACS) group the junta opened 21 new military training schools across the country to train the 9,000 conscripts in the first two conscription batches.