11 Bangladeshis held with 32 kg of marijuana off Rathedaung coast
The Arakan Army Coast Guard intercepted two boats off the Rathedaung Township coast on 24 April 2026 and arrested 11 Bangladeshi nationals accused of smuggling marijuana toward junta-administered Sittwe. Officers seized 23 packets totalling roughly 32 kg, and are holding the suspects, the contraband and both vessels while the detainees are processed under relevant laws.
🇲🇲 Rathedaung Township coast between Donpaik and Chenkhali, Rakhine State · Myanmar
The Arakan Army (AA) Coast Guard intercepted two boats and arrested 11
Bangladeshi nationals accused of smuggling marijuana toward junta-administered
Sittwe in Rakhine State.[1]The seizure took place near the Rathedaung
Township coastline on April 24.[1]The first vessel had stalled with engine
failure between Donpaik and Chenkhali and was boarded at about 1:20 p.m., when
six men and one woman, all Bangladeshi nationals, were taken into custody.[1]A second boat arrived at about 2:30 p.m. to tow the disabled vessel and was also
seized, with four more Bangladeshi nationals arrested on board.[1]The Coast
Guard is holding all 11 suspects together with the contraband and both vessels,
with officials saying the detainees are being processed in accordance with
relevant laws.[1]
The first vessel was carrying 23 packets of marijuana totalling roughly 32
kilograms.[1]Alongside the marijuana, officers seized aphrodisiacs, birth
control pills, mobile phones and a quantity of Bangladeshi Taka.[1]
The shipment had originated in Bangladesh.[1]Local sources note that
methamphetamine and heroin are frequently trafficked in the opposite direction,
from junta-controlled waters in Rakhine toward Bangladesh.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
No charges, court dates or outcomes were reported; officials said only that the 11 detainees are being processed in accordance with relevant laws.
The report gives roughly 32 kilograms rather than an exact laboratory weight.
The names, ages and residences of the 11 suspects were not published beyond their Bangladeshi nationality and that the first boat held six men and one woman.
Aphrodisiacs, birth control pills, mobile phones and Bangladeshi Taka were seized alongside the marijuana and are excluded from the cannabis figures.
Only one accessible source for this event was found after searching in English; no agency statement or second outlet account could be opened.
On the UN International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the regime burned more than 50 tonnes of heroin, opium, ketamine, methamphetamine, marijuana and crystal meth, valued at about US$600 million, in Yangon, Mandalay and Taunggyi. The total was more than double the 2025 figure. No marijuana weight was given.
The Irrawaddy reported that villages in Ayadaw township and along the Myinmu border had shifted from rice, beans, betel nut and cotton to cannabis since 2022–23. Residents estimated at least five acres per village and more than thirty acres across six villages.
At ceremonies in Yangon, Mandalay and Taunggyi, the home affairs ministry destroyed drugs valued at about 1,072 billion kyats. Among them were over 597 kg of marijuana, beside 1,744 kg of heroin, over 1,334 kg of opium, over 8,573 kg of ketamine and 281 million methamphetamine tablets. The drugs had been seized between 1 June 2024 and 31 May 2025.
Myanmar's authorities destroyed more than $446 million worth of seized illegal drugs on 26 June 2023, the U.N. anti-drugs day, with marijuana among the substances burned in Yangon, Mandalay and Taunggyi. Police gave no separate marijuana weight.
