The Arakan Army (AA) has detained at least ten Rohingya families and abducted a young child in Maungdaw, intensifying fear and distress within a community already struggling to survive under escalating repression.
Local residents from Bantaubiin village confirmed that the detentions began in early June and have continued steadily, targeting families who had recently returned from Bangladesh in hopes of rebuilding their lives in their original village.
“They came at night and took my brother’s entire family,” said a Rohingya man from Bantaubiin. “No explanation, no charges — just disappeared. We thought coming home would bring peace, but it feels like we walked back into another prison.”
In a separate incident, on July 13, a young Rohingya boy, Mohammed Harith, was abducted from a shop in central Maungdaw. Witnesses say masked AA soldiers stormed the shop and took the boy without explanation. His family has not heard from him since.
“Harith is just a child,” said a relative. “We don’t know why they took him. We are too afraid to even ask questions. They treat us like we are criminals just for existing.”
Three days earlier, on July 10, three Rohingya laborers from Zayntola village were arrested while working at a construction site. Accused of being affiliated with ARSA, they were reportedly beaten during interrogation and later released.
“We are poor day laborers. We don’t even know what ARSA does,” said one of the released men. “They tied us up, beat us, and accused us of things we never even heard of. We were just there to earn a day’s wages.”
Since the Arakan Army seized control of Maungdaw on December 8, 2024, it has imposed a series of restrictions specifically targeting the Rohingya. Movement between villages now requires payment at checkpoints and bridges, and many communities report being forced to provide detailed information about returnees from Bangladesh.
Village leaders say the AA has instructed them to compile names and records of all families who have recently returned, raising fears that more arrests and disappearances may follow.
Although the Arakan Army presents itself as a resistance force fighting Myanmar’s military, Rohingya communities say their suffering has only deepened under AA control. Arbitrary detention, child abduction, forced labor, and collective punishment continue unabated.
“This isn’t protection — it’s persecution,” said a village elder from northern Maungdaw. “We fled the military once. Now we are trapped again, this time under the AA. Who will speak for us?”
The AA’s military campaign, launched in November 2023, has resulted in the group controlling most of Arakan State. But for the Rohingya, the change in power has brought no relief — only new waves of violence, fear, and uncertainty. As conditions deteriorate, displaced families find themselves once again at risk, caught in a cycle of exile, return, and repression with no end in sight.
