14-Year-Old Girl Missing After Leaving to Buy Snacks in Hlaing Tharyar, Feared Sold as Chinese Bride

In Hlaing Tharyar, a 14-year-old girl went out to buy snacks and disappeared, allegedly to be sold as a Chinese wife

September 19

According to reports from local residents, in Yangon Region's Hlaing Tharyar Township, young people including underage girls are being arrested daily and sold as Chinese wives.

A 14-year-old underage girl living in Ward 13 of Hlaing Tharyar Township went out at around 7 AM on September 6 saying she was going to buy something cold, and has disappeared, it is learned.

"She left around 7 o'clock and didn't come back, so we started searching around 8 o'clock. When we asked at the child's friends' houses, they said she had gone toward the bus stop at the corner of 3rd Street. That was all the trace we could get. We reported to the police station first. They didn't pay attention. We went and told them about 8 times; they made various excuses and sent us back," a family member of the missing girl told MyoTaw.

Because of the missing girl's information, saying they would receive a large sum of money, she was being held to be sold as a Chinese wife, and family members learned that she was still within Hlaing Tharyar Township and conducted searches, it is learned.

"Around 2 AM on the night of the 6th, a message came in from the child's TikTok account. She said she was being held, and that her hand had been cut and blood drawn. She said she was being kept with two older women. They promised her she would have to be a surrogate for a Chinese client and would get 200 million kyats, she said. She said two other girls like her had also been arrested and had arrived there. While she was sending messages, she said they were coming, and went offline," a family member told MyoTaw.

Because of the girl's information, a police officer was paid 50,000 kyats per person — 200,000 kyats for 4 police officers — to search hotels and warehouses near Pwe Market in Hlaing Tharyar Township, but they only searched two hotels and then left, claiming they had work, it is learned.

"Around 5 PM, the child sent another message. She said she would have to move location in the morning. She said she would run away however she could. She said to come to the location she sent and rescue her. On the 7th, when we knew the location the child sent, we told the police. Since they wouldn't act, we had to go ourselves and bring the child back. She said other girls were still left in the back alley of the Sanayya bus stop in Hlaing Tharyar," a family member told MyoTaw.

On September 13, two more underage girls went missing, and a young man was also stabbed and beaten by a group of people in plainclothes and taken to the No. (1) Ward administrator's office, it is learned.

It is learned that those arresting young people in Hlaing Tharyar include people from Dala Township, some taxi drivers, as well as police force members working together, and among the arrested youths, if they are boys, they are taken by the police station for military service, and if they are girls, they are connected with brokers who send them as Chinese wives.

MyoTaw News Channel