Late September and October 2025 has seen a Teknaf upazila that has had smuggling rings and participating criminals arrested en masse, following a few high-profile seizures from early to mid-September. Increased activity of arms, drugs, and human trafficking syndicates has been noted in the region since the capture of the Myanmar side of the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by the Arakan Army and the ousting of the Awami League government on the 5th of August. While the region has always been a trafficking hotspot, recent trends indicate increased activity with new players on the scene. Abductions of Bangladeshi fishermen in the one-year span between 2024 and 2025 occurred at high rates, with a slowdown following in October 2025. Incidents of sporadic gunfire at the border and stray bullets entering Bangladesh continue to occur, and Rohingya camps appear to be somewhat agitated. This OSINT report details the findings.
A) Raids and busts:
Continuing on from previous months, October has seen a rise in the tempo of raids by security forces such as the Coast Guard and Border Guards in conjunction with the Army, Navy, and police units. Teknaf proper has seen only one notable arms bust yielded by the Navy. This is a stark reduction compared to previous months, indicating that arms traffickers may have largely decided to either lie low or resort to alternative trafficking routes.
Nevertheless, the Navy bust resulted in the capture of miscellaneous bladed weapons, a crude sawed-off shotgun and a reported ‘7.62 mm cartridge’ pistol that instead looks very much like a run-down Walther PP/PPK shown below. Reportedly, this was recovered from the residence of a certain Abdul Khaleque, alleged to be a terrorist, who had hidden these weapons beneath the ground. [BSS]
Arms trafficking aside, one notable bust related to yaba trafficking took place on the night of the 13th of October, 2025. This was carried out on the basis of an anonymous tip-off leading Coast Guard men to the banks of the Naf river near Jaliapara. Upon noticing the guardsmen advancing, the suspects reportedly dropped a bag containing 50,000 pills of yaba, which were promptly secured. [Desh Rupantor]
The Baharchhara hills in the middle of Teknaf continue to be a hotspot of trafficking activity owing to its remote geography and opportunities for criminals to be able to hide out well. This is despite the fact that the area has a BGB outpost and is not located far from the Marine Drive highway. [New Age]
Victims of these trafficking rings recovered from Baharchhara and the nearby Habirchhara hills tend to be women and children, and can be both Bangladeshis and Rohingyas. A bust on the 26th of October in Habirchhara rescued five victims, four of whom were women and one small female child. According to the Coast Guard official briefing the media, the victims were on the verge of being smuggled into Malaysia. [TBS]
Apart from this most recent bust, those on the 1st, 21st, and 24th of October stand out as major busts, executed by Coast Guard and Navy units responsible for the region. 21st October saw two separate drives occur almost simultaneously, leading to rescues. The area has been the subject of constant overwatch and arrest drives by Coast Guard and BGB units, many of whose actions are not shown on the map. In certain cases, it has been noted that suspects were not caught, managing to flee into the difficult terrain. An arrest drive taken in the night hours of the 23rd of October ,stretching into the 24th, resulted in 44 rescues. These people were also slated to be trafficked into Malaysi,a and this is the notable incident that saw the suspects fleeing. Lieutenant Commander Salahuddin Rashid Tanvir explained that several organized human trafficking gangs are currently active in the Teknaf region. [bdnews24]
These human trafficking busts reveal a network that is still active and standing strong, and a network that is involved primarily in human trafficking may also easily be involved in drug and arms trafficking simultaneously. Malaysia remains a common destination for victims of human trafficking originating from Bangladesh, and the converging nexus of various trafficking organizations in Teknaf demands attention, considering the events occurring just across the border. It is a matter of curiosity that incidents of clashes between trafficking organizations and networks have not been reporte,d when this is a business where turf wars and battles for dominance are expected.
B) Abductions:
It has been rather widely reported that the Arakan Army had engaged in the abductions of Bangladeshi fishermen from early 2024 to the middle of 2025, up to September. The 30th of September saw the abduction of 14 fishermen along with two trawlers by the Arakan Army just off the coast of St. Martin’s Island near the Bangladesh-Myanmar sea border. This incident appears to have within itself much more than meets the eye, however, as The Daily Star quotes Sajid Ahmed, president of Kayukkhali Fishing Trawler Owners’ Association in Teknaf.
According to Sajid Ahmed, the channel between St. Martin’s and the Bangladeshi mainland in Teknaf is frequently used by big trawlers from Chattogram to smuggle cement, food, and fuel to AA in Arakan. Following the seizure of multiple trawlers carrying such consignments by the Coast Guard and Navy, he assumes that the Arakan Army began to suspect that fishing trawlers were providing law enforcement with information. Essentially, the assertion is that the Arakan Army went out of their way to go all the way to St. Martin’s to abduct Bangladeshi fishermen. Upon the announcement of the event and the publication of images by the Global Arakan Network (GAN), a news outlet aligned with the Arakan Army, Sajid Ahmed identified several of those held. [The Daily Star]
Global Arakan Network, for its part, claims only 7were held from the incident, and further alleged that the fishermen were caught much closer to the shores of Arakan itself. This location would be firmly within the territorial waters of Myanmar, where the Arakan Army positions itself as the de facto authority. GAN further goes on to accuse the fishermen of ignoring repeated warnings and has insinuated that “some fishermen posing as ARSA and RSO members collaborate with the Myanmar Navy to commit terrorist acts and smuggle narcotics into Bangladesh, acting in bribery with some elements of border authorities.” [GAN, 30th September]
Of course, such claims are to be treated as superfluous for the most part, and their account of the event contrasts completely with that reported by Bangladeshi media outlets. It must still be noted, however, that the GAN has reported the abduction of 4 Bangladeshi fishermen along with their boat on the 27th of October, 2025. This report was released by the GAN during the writing of the first draft of this report. The fishermen allegedly intruded rather close to coastal land, and were promptly chased and arrested. [GAN, 27th October]
This claim was followed up with an article by The Business Standard later, confirming that 4 more were indeed abducted by Arakan Army troopers on high-speed interceptor boats off the Naf river estuary. This incident was said to have occurred in the early morning hours of Monday, 27th October. [TBS]
C) Gunfire:
Regular incidents of gunfire being audible from the border regions of Teknaf and Bandarban have continued. Again, this is attributed to combat between Rohingya militant groups and the Arakan Army occurring throughout northern Arakan. The polygon in the map above marks the active combat zone adjacent to the area of interest in Whaikhyang.
Combat in the marked area can be characterized as small-team ambushes by the Rohingyas and combat patrols launched by the Arakan Army, leading to gunfights from within the undulating forests located to the west and north of the Tula Toli village that is visible on the map. Closer to the border, the area is still composed of dense greenery, but with the addition of marshes that make it difficult for the Arakan Army to effectively chase retreating Rohingya militants.
Where do the Rohingyas retreat to? To create distance between themselves and Arakan Army reprisals, they approach close to the border to reach their hideouts amongst Rohingya-majority settlements. It can be surmised that stray bullets crossing the border into Bangladesh are from the last legs of such a retreat as Arakan Army troops fire at retreating Rohingyas.
In Whaikhyang on the 25th and 26th of October, stray bullets had entered and struck a computer shop and a domicile, respectively. The former incident surrounding the computer shop resulted in a woman suffering minor injuries. The latter incident went by without any injuries.
What is notable about these two instances is the fact that the points of impact are at least 2 to 3 kilometers away from the border line, but it seems projectile motion does not care for that. These two incidents underscore the hazard posed by stray bullets in or near a conflict zone. Someone simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time can find themselves as a victim. [Kaler Kontho, New Age]
D) Refugee Camp & Cross-Border Trafficking:
Rohingyas of the No. 13 and No. 15 refugee camps brought out demonstrations on the 27th of September, 2025, ahead of the 80th General Assembly of the United Nations on the 30th of September, which was slated to discuss the Rohingya crisis. A certain Master Syed Ullah from the No. 15 camp was noted to be in a leadership role organizing the demonstrations, who emphasized that Rohingyas cannot live off humanitarian aid indefinitely.
While one would expect the Tatmadaw to be the target of grievances and accusations, the demonstrations also sought to highlight brutalities committed by the Arakan Army quite prominently, signalling a re-orientation of priorities amongst Rohingya leadership. As for the 80th General Assembly, pledges of further humanitarian aid came through, but nothing concrete in the way of a roadmap for a solution came through. [Daily Observer]
Various sources based in both Bangladesh and Myanmar have described drug trafficking routes responsible for drug inflows into Bangladesh through several routes. In the map above, routes falling within Teknaf upazila and within the operational reach of security forces responsible for the region are identified. They are identified as such:
i) Palongkhali/Nolboniya – Located adjacent to Bandarban upazila.
ii) Whaikhyang – Hotspots in Unchiprang and Ulubunia villages.
iii) Hnila – Hotspots in the localities of Leda-Damdamia-Jadimura-Nayapara
These names have repeatedly come up in reports attributed to security officials describing entry points for yaba and arms into Teknaf. Rohingya refugee camps being in the vicinity is a given, as a significant cohort of these traffickers happen to be ethnic Rohingyas. Two separate incidents of Rohingyas being busted with yaba indicate that they have been attempting to circumvent overwatch and continue trading.
In Teknaf proper, a married Rohingya couple was found living in a rented flat with 9,400 yaba tablets. The arrest drive against them was carried out by the 2nd Battalion of the BGB, acting on a tip-off indicating that a shipment from Myanmar was to arrive. German Shepherd dogs were deployed to locate the drugs, and the Rohingya couple was promptly arrested. They were found to be registered to the No. 27 Rohingya camp located in Jadimura, Teknaf, along the Naf river bank. [bdnews24]
The other notable incident of a Rohingya being busted in connection to yaba occurred on the 24th of October, 2025, in the No. 10 camp within Kutupalong. This was a bust resulting in more than 100,000 yaba pills confiscated, with the detainee being a 51-year-old Rohingya woman. The bust took place at her residence, and was carried out on the basis of an anonymous tip about a shipment coming in from Myanmar. [BSS]
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.