Taungup: 30,000 yaba tablets worth 50 million kyat were seized by police in Taungup in Arakan State when the drugs were being brought to Sittwe from Taungup on a ferry ship.

A witness said, "The drug trafficker jumped into the water from the ship after he felt he was not safe on the ship. After he jumped, 30,000 yaba tablets were found by police under his seat."

Police are now searching for the suspect, but have yet to find him.

According to a local source, the drug trafficker is from Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, and he brought the yaba tablets from Burma proper to be smuggled out to Bangladesh through the Maungdaw border point.

"It is the first time seizing such a huge amount of yaba in Taungup. Taungup is located at the foot of Arakan Roma and it is an entrance gate town for Arakan, connecting with Burma proper, but police has not seized so much yaba before," the witness said.

After receiving the news, Narinjara contacted the Taungup police station over the phone but the police officer declined to provide any information about the event.

Arakan State is now becoming a transit place to smuggle yaba tablets to Bangladesh from yaba-producing areas of Shan State. Many Burmese people have been arrested recently in Bangladesh after they smuggled yaba to Bangladesh through the western Burmese border town of Maungdaw and across the Naff River that divides the two countries.