Maungdaw: A 72 year-old woman was arrested by Burmese authorities with 1,350 YW brand yaba tablets in Maungdaw on the western Burma border, when she was trying to smuggle the drugs to Bangladesh, said a police officer who wished to remain anonymous.

"On Thursday we seized a total of 1,350 yaba tablets from her while checking passengers on a ferry boat just before its departure to Bangladesh. The elderly woman concealed the yaba tablets inside her umbrella," he said.

She was identified as Phe Ruta Khatu from Shwe Zar Ward in Maungdaw. After her arrest she was taken by the border authorities to the Nasaka headquarters for interrogation.

Police later arrested another man, U Tun Min Naing, the brother-in-law of Maungdaw District USDA Secretary Tun Hla Sein, in connection with the case.

According to a local witness, after the woman was arrested a Nasaka team came to Tun Min Naing's house and took him to Nasaka headquarters, Kyi Kan Byint, in Maungdaw.

During the interrogation, the elderly woman reportedly revealed that the tablets belonged to Tun Min Naing and she was acting as a carrier between Burma and Bangladesh.

Tun Min Naing and the woman are both being detained at Nasaka headquarters but it is not clear whether they will be charged because Tun Min Naing is the brother-in-law of Tun Hla Sein, who wields power as the USDA Secretary in Maungdaw.

Maungdaw town is major transportation point for yaba to Bangladesh from Burma. On 12 May, police seized 15,000 yaba tablets from a couple from Sittwe at the 3-mile checkpoint on the Buthidaung - Maungdaw motor road, near the entrance gate to Maungdaw.