AA hits back at junta accusations of involvement in drug trade

By Admin 27 Mar 2024

DMG Newsroom
27 March 2024, Sittwe

In response to junta accusations of Arakan Army (AA) involvement in the drug trade, the AA has alleged that Myanmar’s military regime is waging a propaganda war against it in an effort to counter an increasingly grim narrative for junta forces at actual war with the ethnic armed group in Arakan State.

The regime said it had seized around 1 billion kyats worth of drugs belonging to the AA on the MV Sein Pyae Min cargo ship at Bayintnaung Jetty in Yangon’s Mayangone Township on March 21. The ship operated on the Yangon-Sittwe route, and was bound for Sittwe, according to the regime.

AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha said it was the typical political ploy of the regime to discredit its enemies.

“The regime has blockaded roads, waterways and air travel to Arakan State to make sure not a single grain of rice or pill of medicine can reach Arakan State,” AA spokesman U Khaing Thukha wrote on his Telegram. “No ships can come to or leave [Arakan State] without permission from the [Arakan State] security and border affairs minister. All the ships that are still operating are controlled by them.”

He added: “The claim that drugs are found on a Sittwe-bound ship is detached from reality.”

The regime alleged that the AA’s quartermaster in Sittwe, Thant Zin Oo, was working with his counterpart in Buthidaung to smuggle narcotics from Yangon to Buthidaung via Sittwe.

The regime raided a house in Yangon’s Tamwe Township and arrested Tun Thein Aung and his wife Su Myaw Wai, who were allegedly involved in the smuggling of drugs.

Fighting has been raging in Arakan State for more than four months. The regime has been targeting residential areas in Arakan State in apparent response to its territorial losses to AA forces.