Vigilance of security forces in Bangladesh’s border regions, including Teknaf, has been consistent. Continuous and ongoing arrest drives have resulted in serial capture trafficking operations of all sorts, notable among them being human trafficking and drug trafficking. The noose around trafficking operations in the area began to tighten, particularly in the final few months of 2025. Coinciding with the increase of combat activity in northern Maungdaw and the rest of Arakan, with the increase of airstrikes being particularly notable, one can gain a sense of how trafficking activities have been made significantly more dangerous to carry out.
Notable busts and incidents have still occurred in Teknaf, indicating the existence of networks that have, for the time being, decided to ‘lay low’ in a sense. This is reflected in the reduced number of human trafficking busts following months of high tempo.
This is more likely to indicate a temporary slowdown due to unfavorable conditions in Arakan, which acts as a supply and destination point for various contraband. On the contrary, December has seen arms trafficking arrests keep to the trend. Busts have recovered military-grade weaponry, various kinds of explosives, and in one specific instance, a heavy load of gunpowder. Arms trafficking busts in December have proven to indeed be of significance. The town of Hnila, historically a transit point for trafficked goods of all sorts, has now emerged as a hotspot for arms trafficking.
This OSINT report details the findings as of December 2025.
A) Raids and busts:
A joint operation by the Bangladesh Navy and Coast Guard targeted a suspected arms cache in Hnila Union of Teknaf Upazila on the 3rd of December. Recovered items from the drive included locally-made bladed weapons and crude firearms. Small improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and ammunition were also recovered. It could be determined based on publicly available information on the internet whether or not this bust was directly related to another bust that would follow on the 5th of December.
That follow-up would be conducted by the Navy’s Special Warfare Diving and Salvage (SWADS) unit, where they recovered a huge cache of firearms and ammunition in Hnila. Items recovered included a mix of firearms and high-explosive grenade rounds, again handed over to local police. The targeted location was the house of a top-listed criminal known locally as “Lamba Mizan”. This cache recovered a trove of weaponry and munitions, including 40 mm high-explosive (HE) grenades designed to be fired from grenade launchers, locally made firearms, ammunition, and at least one factory-made pistol originating from foreign territories.
The fact that the haul included 40 mm HE grenades indicates the existence of buyers in or around Bangladesh who are confident about foreseeing their use. It is worth noting that the Arakan Army has alleged that Rohingya militant groups had deployed 40 mm grenade launchers against them in combat. [BSS]
A significantly larger arms bust would follow on the 17th of December, again in Hnila, amongst more hilly terrain to the west of the town center. After learning of a bandit group’s location on a hill near Rangikhali, BGB officers on duty there detected unusual activity at around 2300 hrs, according to Ittefaq’s report on the matter. Upon contact with the bandits, they opened fire at BGB troopers to provide suppression while they absconded. The troopers returned fire, but were unable to capture any bandits.
Following a search of the premises, the BGB patrol team found a G3 battle rifle, parts belonging to another G3, a magazine, four locally-made firearms, one MA-1 Mk.2, one single-barrel shotgun, three hand grenades, 1 mortar shell, 17 kg of gunpowder, 10 hand grenade making materials, 8 machetes, 5 knives, 302 rounds of various types of bullets, and 54 spent bullet shells, among other miscellanous materials. The intact G3 rifle has an emblem on the buttstock, which could be the Arakanese national emblem used by various Arakanese nationalist parties and is found on the state flag of Arakan/Rakhine. Alternatively, the emblem could signify a Tatmadaw formation, making its origins clear in either case. [Ittefaq]
Human trafficking arrests have continued, albeit with reduced tempo compared to previous months. As usual, Malaysia has remained a target destination for trafficking victims. In a Coast Guard operation deep in the hilly backcountry of Baharchhara on the 7th of December, security forces busted a human trafficking den where 7 men and women were being held for shipment by sea to Malaysia. On the promise of employment and marriage, the victims were transported to the hideout in Baharchhara in order to be smuggled to Malaysia by sea. They were imprisoned there, and an attempt was made to extract money. The rescued all hailed from the Jaliapalong locale of Ukhia upazila. [Prothom Alo]
BGB troopers followed it up with another bust on the 10th of December, not far from Baharchhara. They arrested 2 human traffickers along Marine Drive, freeing 7 victims who were being held for trafficking. Extortion and torture of trafficking victims is a recurring theme, indicating that many among those being trafficked may be victims of abductions. A much larger bust was carried out on the 26th of December, resulting in the rescue of 18 victims, including men and women. The suspects fled, but among the rescued, one turned out to be an accused in a murder case, who was promptly held. These victims were slated to be transported by boat, on a journey that is frequently perilous, having claimed the lives of a significant number of Rohingya trafficking victims in recent months. [Jagonews24]
Drug busts have continued as usual, with December’s first being a Coast Guard drive to arrest a yaba trafficker with 10,000 pieces. The haul was valued at 5 million BDT, and a locally-made firearm with small amounts of ammunition was also recovered. The prevalence of locally-made firearms with varying degrees of effectiveness is noteworthy in these busts. Such items have been recovered consistently. The fact that this occurred in Hnila lines up with arms busts that had occurred in the month. [Coast Guard Press Release]
A subsequent bust on the 22nd of December in Sabrang resulted in the recovery of 60,000 pieces of yaba valued at 30 million BDT. In much the same way as the previous bust, only one suspect was arrested. In previous months, busts in Teknaf and Bandarban had turned up single suspects in separate raids who had been carrying immensely large packages of yaba and other types of narcotics. This may hint at a trafficking network that is heavily decentralized and fragmented to maintain longevity.
On the same day, a RAB raid in Naitongpara turned up two suspects, one of whom was a Rohingya refugee sheltered in Ukhiya. 50,000 pieces of yaba were recovered from a three-storey building, although it was not certain whether or not the apartment had been lived in by one of the suspects on a permanent basis, or whether it had been used as a safehouse. It must be noted that information on this bust could only be found on regional news sites, probably having been overshadowed by the slightly larger BGB bust.
The list of collected trafficking busts and raids ends with an arrest made on the 29th of December by police in Cox’s Bazar. Police had received a covert tip regarding a big shipment of Yaba that was being transported from Dailpara in Teknaf to Cox’s Bazar. Several police teams were sent out into the field in the morning after learning of this news. In the vicinity of the Link Road Rail crossing, a checkpoint was established. After learning of the checkpoint, the drug traffickers who were transporting the vehicle altered their route and entered the district town. The traffickers and the driver abandoned the vehicle outside the DC office’s mosque and ran away, but one of the traffickers was arrested later.
92,600 pieces of yaba were seized, making for a rather massive haul in comparison to the others in December. It appears that attempts to blend in with traffic are made through the use of regular passenger vehicles. Without visual confirmation of contraband onloading, or suspicious activity of occupants, or informant intelligence, identifying these drug mules is a serious challenge. [Jagonews24]
B) Abductions:
As Bangladeshi and Rohingya fishermen continue to fish too close to Myanmar territory for various reasons, Arakan Army riverine units have also continued to abduct them. Abductions of fishermen by AA personnel have been a monthly affair since early 2024 as the rebel group seeks to project a veneer of law and order to the Arakanese support base it relies on. On top of that, increased vigilance has been seen on account of Rohingya militant group activity.
However, two abductions in December have taken place exceedingly close to Bangladeshi territory in the Jhimongkhali axis, where the border line over the Naf river is at its thinnest. On the 3rd and 5th of December, a total of eight fishermen were abducted. Four of them were Rohingya refugees from the camps. These abductions took place during extreme hours ideal for illegal fishing and covert infiltration operations both. It must be noted, however, that no credible evidence points to the fishermen having been involved in such. [Jagonews – 1, 2]
Two more cases of abductions/detentions took place much closer to the coastline of Arakan on an eastward axis from St. Martin’s Island. AA coast guard activity is logically more intense in that region, making for predictable arrests. On the 18th, a boat with nine Bangladeshis was captured by the AA not far from the Ale Than Kyaw coast, well within Myanmar territorial waters. This was followed up with another incident on the 23rd, when two separate boats and 13 fishermen were captured. Interesting to note that in this case, one of the boats had 150 kilograms of fish of all sorts, which were subsequently confiscated. Allegedly, not all of these incidents are reported by the families of the victims after they occur. [Jagonews24]
2026 can be expected to be a worse year for Bangladeshi fishermen, particularly those who feel compelled to fish closer to or inside Myanmar territory, as the steadily rising activity of Rohingya militant groups is set to make the region much more dangerous to operate in. There is also the question of whether these fishing boats are indeed used to help Rohingya militants infiltrate into AA-controlled territory, as they fear. Past combat footage of the Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA) shows them utilizing small boats in marshy terrain characteristic of the Arakan coast.
C) Gunfire
Sounds of gunfire and stray bullets have recommenced for the month of December, with incidents of significance.
The consequences of fierce fighting inside Arakan were felt by people living along the Teknaf–Naf River border in mid-December 2025, especially in the vicinity of Whaikhyang and adjacent frontier villages. Prothom Alo claims that on the evening of December 13, 2025, there was a lot of gunfire, loud explosions, and repeated mortar firing that continued sporadically into the early hours of the morning. The sounds came from places within Myanmar that were several kilometers away. The incident on the 13th of December appeared to have been a border outpost skirmish, as this was corroborated by the Arakan Army itself. [Prothom Alo]
Estimates would suggest that the 13th December engagement between the AA and a joint team of RSO and ARSA fighters, as alleged by the AA, occurred dangerously close to the Bangladeshi border line with Myanmar. Combat actions taking place within such proximity undoubtedly risk civilian casualties within Bangladesh, and fuel for ULA allegations against Bangladeshi security forces as enablers of Rohingya militant activity. The AA has also claimed that Rohingya fighters deployed a 40 mm grenade launcher during this encounter.
Tatmadaw airstrikes are usually responsible for explosions, in particular the ones heard in late December. Those explosions were from airstrikes in Maungdaw carried out by a Tatmadaw – Lay Y-12 transport plane modified to drop bombs. This has been covered by a Bangladesh Defence Journal SITREP previously. Incidents of gunfire, as usual, originate from the Arakan Army’s involvement in combat with three Rohingya groups: the Arakan Salvation Army (ARSA), the Arakan Rohingya Solidarity Organization (ARSO), and the Arakan Rohingya Army (ARA). The relative absence of Rohingya Islami Mahaz (RIM) activity for the month of December is notable, as their focus appears to have been in northern Maungdaw.
Gunfire from Rakhine State in Myanmar was heard for several hours on the evening of the 17th of December. According to reporting by The Daily Observer, there were immediate physical repercussions of the violence in Bangladeshi territory. At least one mortar round fell in the Naf River, causing visible plumes of smoke and water near the Bangladeshi shore, and residents in Whaikhyang and other Teknaf border communities stated that stray bullets punctured the tin roofs of numerous houses. Villagers reported extended stretches of nonstop gunfire and explosions, which caused fear and anxiety for their safety. It is a matter of sheer fortune that no injuries had occurred. [The Daily Observer]
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.