Video shows detention of Bangladeshi paramilitary force members, not Myanmar rebels
A video viewed thousands of times on social media shows the detention of members of a Bangladeshi paramilitary force, contrary to posts claiming they are from the Arakan Army — an ethnic minority rebel group in neighbouring Myanmar. The footage previously circulated in local media reports about the arrest of members of Ansar Bahini — also known as the Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Force — in August 2024.
“Recently Bangladesh Army claimed that they arrested 15 AA Arakan Army members,” reads the caption of a Facebook video shared on July 15, 2025.
The video, viewed more than 24,000 times, shows a group of men in military uniform sitting on the floor with their hands raised above their heads. The group are surrounded by armed soldiers and bystanders.
The Arakan Army are an ethnic minority rebel group battling Myanmar’s ruling junta in western Rakhine state (archived link). They claimed complete control of a key region along the Bangladesh border in December 2024 (archived link).
The region has emerged as a key front in Myanmar’s highly fractured civil war, pitching a myriad of ethnic minority rebels and pro-democracy fighters against the junta that seized power in a 2021 coup (archived link).
More than 3.5 million people are internally displaced across Myanmar, according to United Nations data, more than 500,000 in Rakhine state alone.
Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on July 24, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
The same clip was also shared in similar Facebook and X posts.
But the video does not show the arrest of Arakan Army members.
Ansar protest
A combination of reverse image searches using keyframes from the falsely shared video and keyword searches on Google led to the same footage posted on Instagram on August 26, 2024 (archived link).
In the Instagram video, someone can be heard saying in Bengali: “Hey brother, bring the rope. Tie them all up.”
Further keyword searches found the clip was also published on the same day by local news outlet Radio Padma News about the Bangladeshi army arresting members of the paramilitary Ansar forces (archived link).
A similar video taken from a different angle was published by RTV Bangladesh (archived link).
According to the Dhaka Tribune, Ansar Bahini — also known as the Bangladesh Ansar and Village Defence Force — is a paramilitary auxiliary force administered by the country’s home affairs ministry (archived link).
The force, which comprises approximately six million members, is responsible for the preservation of internal security and law enforcement in Bangladesh.
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (left) and the clip posted by Radio Padma News (right)
According to The Daily Star, Ansar members had been demanding the abolition of the force’s “rest tradition” where members are sent for six-months of unpaid leave after working for three consecutive years (archived link).
The report said there were clashes between students and Ansar members who blocked a key government building despite assurances about abolishing compulsory unpaid leave from Bangladesh’s interim government.
A closer analysis of the falsely shared video also shows the individuals sitting on the floor are wearing uniform that corresponds to that worn by Ansar members, as shown in photos from the Ansar protest in August 2024 available on the Getty Images website (archived link).
Screenshot comparisons of the Radio Padma News clip (left) and the Getty Images photo (right), with similarities highlighted and magnified by AFP
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to the Arakan Army and the unrest in Myanmar.