AA Responds That Drug Allegations Are Merely Political Attacks

On March 19, the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA) responded that reports in the military's mouthpiece newspapers of March 18 and 19, claiming that AA economic officer Ye Win (a.k.a. Kyaw Soe Lin) and his wife Ma Thida Myint were involved in a drug seizure worth 96 billion kyat, have nothing to do with its organization and are merely a malicious political attack.

According to a statement by the Anti-Drug Police Force under the military council, the drugs and related suspects were seized on March 6. Based on information from those arrested, it claimed that the AA economic officer managed the connection, shipment and sale of the drugs into Malaysian waters, that his wife owns the motorboat Shwe Kaung Thar, and that the two run bus terminals in Tangyan, Taunggyi, Mandalay and Yangon and operate a transport business with 16 passenger vehicles.

The ULA/AA statement said the military council has always treated revolutionaries as enemies not worth negotiating with and attacked them with fabricated disinformation, and that this is a timed attack on the ULA/AA using political dirty tricks, an act to damage its political dignity, and an attempt to shift the blame for the council's own crimes onto it.

The drug allegations also emerged after UN Secretary-General António Guterres told journalists at a press conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on March 15 that the AA is a distinct organization and that it will be necessary to talk with the AA regarding the Rohingya issue.

The AA has now captured all townships in Rakhine State except three, and is also conducting offensives in regions such as Magway and Ayeyarwady.