Inside the "Shwe Padauk Myaing" scam hub: torture and human trafficking uncovered in Myawaddy

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Major General Saw Chit-thu (left), Major General Saw Tin Win (middle) and Colonel Saw Htoo Eh-mu (right) are seen at the ceremony to officially change the name of the BGF to the KNA on January 1. A Chinese national who escaped from the Yulong Bay (aka Shwe Pi Tauk Myaing) online money laundering operation near Thae Pon village in Myawaddy township, owned by Colonel Saw Htoo Eh-mu, the son of Karen National Army (KNA) leader Major General Saw Chit-thu. Many foreigners are being tortured and forced to work in the Yulong Bay (aka Shwe Pi Tauk Myaing) online money laundering operation near Thae Pon village in Myawaddy township, according to a Chinese national who escaped from the operation. Mizzima Special Correspondent Han Htoo Zaw (Mizzima)  A Chinese survivor who recently escaped the Yulong Bay (also known as Shwe Padauk Myaing) online scam compound near Thae Pone village, Myawaddy Township, has exposed a brutal system of daily torture, extortion, and forced labour involving over ...
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Myanmar junta chief visits Yangon polling stations as second phase of elections begins amid civil war

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Mizzima

Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing, visited polling stations across Yangon on Sunday 11 January, 2026, to monitor the second phase of the military junta’s general election.

Accompanied by top military officials, the Senior General inspected downtown areas and the townships of Hlaing, Insein, and Latha. State media reported that officials were using computer systems to verify voter lists as the General “provided encouragement” to polling staff and the few citizens present.

This second phase of the three-part election covers 100 townships nationwide, including 16 in the Yangon Region.

Polls opened at 6:00 am in areas such as Bahan, North Dagon, South Okkalapa, and Kawhmu – the former constituency of detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Despite the junta’s efforts to project a sense of civic duty, residents and democracy watchdogs described the atmosphere as “numb” and “rigged.” In Yangon, some voters told journalists they were voting to “fulfill their civic duty” in hopes of eventual peace, while many others expressed little interest, noting that the results were likely predetermined.

Major General Zaw Min Tun, spokesperson for the National Security and Defense Council, told reporters that the regime plans to convene a new parliament in March, with a new government set to take office in April. This timeline follows the first phase of voting on 28 December, 2025, where the military-proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) claimed nearly 90 percent of the seats in the Pyithu Hluttaw amidst a 52 percent turnout, a figure independent monitors say was inflated by coercion.

The international community, including the UN and most Western nations, has categorized the election as a “sham exercise” designed to formalize military rule. While the junta holds polls in urban enclaves like Yangon, it continues to carry out intense airstrikes in “liberated areas” of Rakhine, Chin, and Bago, where fighting has rendered voting impossible in 65 townships.

A final third phase is scheduled for 25 January, 2026, covering the remaining 63 townships.

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