A total of 120 pickpockets were arrested on Yangon Bus Service (YBS) buses between January 14 and January 31, with authorities seizing a vehicle, 282 mobile phones, 11 bags, and 1 million kyats, according to U Lyan Kyint Marn, Joint Secretary of the Yangon Region Private Transport Supervision Committee (YRTC). 

“CCTV is installed on the YBS buses. Stop the inhuman pickpockets,” he warned in a social media post. 

In a separate incident on January 1, two YRTC inspection staff were threatened by pickpockets while on duty near Bogyoke Market in Yangon. As authorities pursued the suspects, two individuals—40-year-old Nyein Chan from Shwe Auk Yon Ward, Kyimyindine Township, and Lin Lin from Seikkan Thar Road (67) Ward, Dagon Seikkan Township—were arrested. Legal action has been taken against them. 

The YRTC oversees YBS operations, which transport approximately 1.5 million passengers daily using more than 3,000 buses on over 100 routes.