Myanmar junta forces have intensified security checks, mobile phone inspections, and brief arbitrary detentions of civilians across two major towns in western Myanmar’s Chin State, according to residents and resistance officials.

In Falam, a key town in northern Chin State where junta forces recently re-established full control, troops set up checkpoints at a major downtown intersection on Thursday, Aug. 6.

Soldiers stopped and questioned young and middle-aged residents, briefly detaining three men—including a driver for the Falam Baptist Church.

All three were released a few hours later, but residents report growing fear of being targeted on suspicion of having ties to anti-junta resistance groups.

A separate incident occurred the same day in Hakha, the capital of Chin State.

Junta troops detonated a grenade outside a CB Bank branch in the Pyitawthar Ward, fired warning shots into the air, and rounded up between 40 and 50 men from a nearby market and surrounding streets.

Witnesses said soldiers forced the detainees to remove their shirts and bound them with ropes. Salai Ram Hngak, leader of the local anti-junta militia group Chinland Defence Force–Hakha (CDF-Hakha), alleged on social media that military forces deliberately staged the blast to frame resistance fighters.

Local sources reported a rare dispute at the scene between military personnel and local police officers, who argued that civilians without evidence of an offense should be freed.

All detainees were subsequently released later that day.

Despite the releases, military personnel in Hakha continue to maintain tight security, routinely stopping passersby, interrogating locals, and searching mobile phones for resistance connections.