Since the capture of a Kuki-Chin National Front (KNF) camp in early September, the situation in Bandarban can be best described as uneasy. Contributing to the uneasiness has been unrest in neighboring districts surrounding the alleged rape of a teenager in Khagrachhari, in reaction to which tensions along ethnic lines had flared up. Jumma Chhatra Janata, consisting of young non-Bengalis, staged protests and demonstrations across the Chittagong Hill Tracts, extending into Bandarban. Aside from such events occurring in preceding months, Bandarban has been the site of continued busts of drug trafficking rings. In conjunction with Teknaf, it generally appears that there has been a reduction in captures of arms trafficking rings, except for one notable drive. This OSINT report details the findings.
A) Busts:
Arrests of trafficking rings appear to have continued on, with significant drug and arms hauls. Yaba seems to remain the drug of choice for users and traders alike, taking advantage of cross-border trafficking routes. It would seem that the Ghumdhum border region is a major entry point for all sorts of contraband moving in and out.
Rohingyas and non-Bengalis have been found as suspects and culprits engaging in its trade, with a 27th September bust in Naikhyongchhari resulting in an 80-year-old and a 15-year-old being held with 120,000 pills of yaba and 1 million (10 lakh) BDT in cash. The two suspects were ethnic Marma, and it could not be ascertained whether or not the two suspects had familial ties. The inclusion of youth, especially teenagers, is a matter of concern. [Janakantha]
Yet another yaba bust of a much smaller scale, amounting to 5,000 pills, was carried out the following day on the 28th. This bust resulted in the arrest of four Rohingyas, with three of them being women. Local residents of Lama detained them at first, probably upon noticing suspicious behavior, before handing them over to local police.
Cattle trafficking is a notable but often ignored aspect of the trafficking trade in this district. In previous months, cattle traffickers had been found with contraband that included weapons and drugs along with cattle. Such an incident occurred on the 11th of October, 2025, where the smugglers fled after they spotted the BGB patrol team responding. [Jagonews24]
Events unfolded in much the same way on the 16th of October, when a BGB patrol team was able to enact a successful drug bust. However, the suspects managed to escape. On the same day, a ‘leader’ of the Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) was arrested in the Bandarban township. This arrest was carried out simultaneously with arrests elsewhere in the country by the Detective Branch (DB) of the police, amounting to four arrests. Further information about the arrest as it relates to Bandarban could not be retrieved, yet the arrests are to be considered in the light of intrigue and unrest surrounding the recent actions of the Awami League inside the country and its leadership from outside. [BSS]
The 19th of October saw the announcement of two major arms trafficking busts carried out by joint BGB-Army teams in Thanchi and Alikadam. Arrested suspects were found with various types of crude, locally-made weaponry, grenades, machine gun ammunition, and walkie-talkie sets. The presence of such equipment within the bust indicates cross-border trafficking with intended customers probably being organized trafficking groups or militants. The bust in Alikadam followed a raid in the early dark hours of the 19th on a compound from which some suspects were able to flee. A search of the aforementioned compound is what discovered the walkie-talkie sets and machine gun ammunition. [Ittefaq]
Needless to say, illicit arms, ammunition, explosives, and communication equipment being recovered and captured by security forces is hardly a novel event in Bandarban. Being part of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bandarban is no stranger to unrest and militant activity. Analysis of news reports related to arms trafficking busts and contextualizing them in relation to the activities of armed groups such as the KNF, UPDF, JLA, and other such groups in Myanmar and the Indian North-East may indicate the presence of a cross-border market ecosystem for such contraband.
Of particular concern would be weapons from Myanmar, which were revealed to be in the possession of KNF militants found from previous busts. The image below is taken from a KNF hideout busted by security forces. The two rifles with collapsible stocks and perforated handguards are the Tatmadaw-produced MA-1, which was adopted in the late 1990s for regular service as a licensed copy of the IMI Galil assault rifle chambered in 5.56mm NATO. [Irrawaddy Archives]
These rifles are understood to have entered the illicit trade by way of militant groups who pilfered deceased Tatmadaw troops and raided weapons stocks. The presence of what would appear to be G3 battle rifles, as reported in previous police busts in Bandarban and Teknaf, is also a part of this illicit trade, as the Tatmadaw had the G3 as its service rifle alongside the lighter HK33 during the Cold War period. The heavier G3 is chambered in the larger 7.62x51mm NATO, and the HK33 is chambered in the smaller but more energy-efficient 5.56x45mm NATO.
Such German-designed small arms have been a mainstay of the Tatmadaw, extending to other variants and support weapons such as machine guns. However, these arms also found their way directly into rebelling organizations such as former Burmese independence leader Thakin Nu’s armed rebellion against the government of General Ne Win, which he formed following a military coup. He formed the Patriotic Liberation Army (PLA), which is said to have received Western support in the form of German and Thai-produced G3s. Following the PLA’s dissolution, these rifles found their way into the hands of other rebel groups and militant forces in the country. [The Diplomat]
Thus, G3s keep being captured by security forces in Bangladesh and India. A drive in September 2025 saw an arms bust that included a worn-down G3. It is shown in the photo below this paragraph. G3s found in the region frequently appear to be rather worn-down and discolored, a testament to their age. One would find it rather difficult to operate the battle rifle in such conditions. As for Bangladesh, a high-profile 2006 bust in Bandarban stood as one of the first to bring the presence of G3s in the illicit arms trade into focus. [The Daily Star]
B) Notable Events:
Drug busts aside, two notable incidents of landmine explosions occurred on the 13th and 14th of October, respectively. Corporal Mohammad Akhter Hossain, belonging to the 34th Battalion of the BGB, stepped on a landmine at the Ghumdhum border on the 13th. The blast is said to have disintegrated his left ankle and left the other foot badly injured. News reports state that the landmine was planted by the Arakan Army, which tracks with activity surrounding landmines in the difficult terrain along the Ghumdhum border. Corporal Hossain was afterwards promptly airlifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Dhaka for urgent medical care. [TBS]
The incident on the following day occurred slightly across the border from the settlement of Poamuhuri. A landmine explosion resulted in the death of a Myanmar national and left a Bangladeshi national injured. The area appears to have been part of a jhum cultivation plot, which the Myanmar national was said to have been in the process of visiting for cultivation purposes. It is not known who placed the landmine, and the body of the Myanmar national remained at the site as of the last moment of reporting. [Narinjara News, bdnews24]
This particular incident highlights just how porous the border is at points such as these, and while border outposts are located, they may often be too far and few in between to provide adequate overwatch. The difficulty is compounded by the rough, hilly terrain, something which also lends itself to jhum cultivation. As of the time of writing, no de facto or de jure authority in Myanmar has made claims regarding the man who was killed by the landmine.
Being full of porous border lines, the region, which is not too far from the Bangladesh-India-Myanmar tri-junction, sees rather heavy Kuki-Chin National Front/National Army and Kuki National Army (KNA) activity. These two groups are distinct and are not to be confused with one another. The latter are known to have bases in India and Myanmar from which they operate, while the former are known to have attacked Bangladesh Army personnel over the years leading up to 2025. [Irrawaddy – Muktadir Rashid]
The major September 3 KNF hideout bust occurred in the area near the tri-junction, further accentuating the point regarding the state of the border here. The porous international borders along Myanmar have long been a major transit point for contraband of all sorts and a haven for militant activity.
On the same day as the Ghumdhum landmine incident, Bengalis organized under the banner of Parbatya Nagorik Parishad, or the Hill Tracts Citizens’ Council, held a strike previously announced on the 9th. They observed the strike on the basis of an eight-point list of demands that included increasing military presence, repealing the Chittagong Hill Tracts Regulation 1900, and the unification of land purchase and regulation systems in the CHT with those of the rest of the country. [TBS]
Undoubtedly, these demands by the council are expected to go against the stances of prominent CHT-based political factions. Despite that, significant unrest or clashes were not recorded. What must be noted, however, is that the head of the Hill Tracts Citizens’ Council, Kazi Md Mojibur Rahman, appears to have once been affiliated with the Bangladesh Awami League. A video posted by BanglaVision News to Facebook on the 1st of December, 2024, shows the aforementioned person speaking in terms associated with Awami League narratives against Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus. Kazi Md Mojibur Rahman has also previously delivered speeches that can be seen as inflammatory, fueling a Bengali vs non-Bengali divide. [BanglaVision Post, ‘Rimon Vlogs’ – Facebook]
Some of his speeches have involved talks of conspiracy theories surrounding the creation of a ‘Christian state’ by foreign powers, allegedly to be achieved through the entry of missionaries converting residents of the Chittagong Hill Tracts to Christianity. A demonstration was brought out under the leadership of a certain John Tripura and the Christian Youth Federation to deliver the message that they are not part of any ‘Christian state’ international conspiracy. This demonstration is reported to have followed an event where the Hill Tracts Citizens’ Council, under the leadership of Mojibur Rahman, encircled a hotel where 12 foreign nationals stayed. The group had alleged that those 12 foreign nationals had violated the conditions of their travel permits. Further agitation and campaigning on this issue are to be watched out for. [Jugantor]
Unrelated to this, a fire broke out in Thanchi on the 26th of October, which gutted 10 shops at once. Around 1:30 AM, a tea vendor in the Balibazar market caught fire, quickly spreading to nearby stores. It was brought under control during early daylight hours, preventing the fire from gutting even more shops. Foul play has not been suspected as of the time of writing. [BSS]
The final, most significant event has been the continuation of gunfire and explosions throughout the month of October from across the Naikhongchhari border crossing. As usual, the sounds appear to be from those of combat between Rohingya militant groups and the Arakan Army. These events culminated in explosions heard on 27th October, reported by non-mainstream news sources. The events could not be properly corroborated, but it is worth mentioning in this report as the sound of explosions is said to have caused significant unrest and uneasiness amongst citizens living near the border crossing.
A report by Voice7 News claims that according to locals, the first explosion came from within Myanmar, between border pillars 43 and 44, at approximately 1:30 PM and at around 3:30 PM, a considerably more powerful explosion reverberated from the same direction, causing the ground in neighboring Bangladeshi villages to tremble. Witnesses described windows and door frames shaking violently from the shockwave of explosions. This points to the explosion being from an IED or some other very high-yield explosive device. Whether or not this represents a definite escalation in the types of munitions used in combat between Rohingya militants and the Arakan Army remains to be seen. [Voice7News]
Again, it must be noted that the source cited for this bit of information is not widely regarded, and it lacks further corroboration. Yet, loud explosions being reported would be of concern related to the nature of fighting just across the border.
Verification Note: Information is sourced from and corroborated from government websites, documents, and news sources. Sources are carefully weighed for authenticity, and sources making superfluous claims without evidence are discarded. Information is then analyzed and interpreted to come to conclusions. Maps and overlays are created using QGIS and Google My Maps.
Fatin Anwar is an Associate Analyst at Bangladesh Defence Journal. He is responsible for in-depth research and analysis in combination with OSINT tools/techniques. A graduate of geography from the University of Dhaka, he had previously spent years working as a freelance writer specializing in research-heavy pieces related to geopolitics and military history.