Illegal trade across Myanmar border, armed groups reportedly paying with narcotics

Armed groups including the AA in Rakhine State have been paying for goods smuggled from Bangladesh not only with cash but also with narcotics, The Daily Star reported. Bangladesh is facing a severe drug problem with 8.2 million drug users, and most of them are smuggled from abroad as the country does not produce drugs. Smugglers from Bangladesh have been supplying construction materials, fuel, and food items to armed groups in Myanmar's Rakhine State for a long time. In this illegal trade, not only cash but also narcotics have been used to pay for fuel and goods, The Daily Star reported. Myanmar's armed groups, including the AA, which controls parts of Rakhine State, have increasingly been paying for goods smuggled from Bangladesh with narcotics such as Yaba and crystal meth, officials and sources familiar with the drug trafficking network said. Sources said that these illegal transactions take place on sea routes in the Bay of Bengal, with Bangladeshi goods being transported to Myanmar by fishing trawlers and narcotics being brought back. Bangladeshi smugglers receive 50 percent of the payment through the hundi system, an informal money transfer system, before the goods leave Bangladesh. Another 25 percent is paid after the ships carrying narcotics leave the jetty in Myanmar, and the remaining amount is settled during the transfer of goods and narcotics at sea, the source said. Due to the demand for goods in the conflict-ridden Rakhine State, Myanmar-side smugglers are increasingly seeking Bangladeshi products such as cement, pulses, and ginger, the source said. One of the drug trafficking routes starts from a jetty in Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region, where drugs are packed and loaded onto fishing trawlers and transported into the Bay of Bengal. Another route starts from Yangon and passes through Minbya, Ann, Sittwe surrounding areas, Rathedaung, and Maungdaw, reaching areas near the Bangladesh border. "We have learned that transporters on the Myanmar side use satellite communication devices to contact recipients on the Bangladesh side before transferring goods at sea," said an anonymous source. Somen Mondol, Deputy Director of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) in Cox's Bazar, confirmed that Myanmar's armed groups are using Yaba narcotics as a form of payment. He said that daily necessities are being smuggled from Bangladesh to Myanmar, and Yaba narcotics are being brought back from Myanmar. "In many cases, fishing trawlers carry goods and cross the border. When they return, they bring back Yaba narcotics on those same boats," he told The Daily Star. Somen said that some individuals from the Bengali (Rohingya in the original text) community, with the support of regional organizations, are involved behind this trade.