Maungdaw : An Arakanese couple was arrested by border security forces on Wednesday at a border checkpoint in Maungdaw in possession of  a large number of Yaba tablets in a bus, said police and other sources.

"Over 10,000 WY marked Yaba tablets worth about 50 million Kyats were seized. The duo was arrested on the way to Maungdaw from Buthidaung on a bus. The drugs were concealed inside rice bags," an eye witness to the seizure said.

The bus was stopped at the three-mile checkpoint on the Buthidaung-Maungdaw motor road when officials discovered the Yaba tablets in the rice bag.

A police officer from the Maungdaw Myoma police station confirmed the seizure and said that the Yaba was seized from the couple by checkpoint personnel, on board bus number 6267.

The couple was identified as U Tun Thein Maung (58) and Daw Hla Tin (49) from Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State.

"The couple was sent to the hospital for a medical checkup because it was suspected they used the stimulant tablets to get the courage to carry such a large consignment of the drug from Maungdaw to Buthidaung," the police officer said.

The road between Buthidaung and Maungdaw stretches 16 miles and is located along the western Burma border near Bangladesh.

Maungdaw is the last destination on the Burmese side for drug traffickers, smuggling Yaba into Bangladesh. Yaba smuggling to Bangladesh from Burma is rampant.