Fact Check: The Claim of Arakan Army Occupying Saint Martin’s Island is False

Recently, misinformation has circulated online claiming that Myanmar’s Arakan Army has occupied Bangladesh’s Saint Martin’s Island.

See some of the Facebook posts spreading this claim here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).

Posts on X (formerly Twitter) promoting this claim can be seen here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), here (archive), and here (archive).

A YouTube video on the same topic is available here (archive).

Fact Check

An investigation by the Rumor Scanner team revealed that the claim about Myanmar’s Arakan Army occupying Bangladesh’s Saint Martin’s Island is entirely false and lacks credible evidence.

Upon investigation, it was found that the claim originated on certain Indian X handles (1, 2, 3) and has been circulating since at least December 30, 2024.

However, no international media outlets or other reliable sources have verified the claim that the Arakan Army occupied Saint Martin’s Island or infiltrated Bangladeshi territory.

Further investigation revealed a report published on December 9, 2024, by the Myanmar-based media outlet The Irrawaddy. The report, titled “AA Takes Complete Control of Myanmar-Bangladesh Border After Seizing Maungdaw,” stated that on December 8, 2024, the Arakan Army gained full control of Myanmar’s 270-kilometer-long border with Bangladesh after capturing Maungdaw city.

A similar account was reported in an opinion piece published on December 13, 2024, by the online version of Bangladesh’s national daily The Daily Star. The article, titled “Arakan Army in Control of Rakhine: Govt Mulling Over New Rohingya Policy,” confirmed the same information.

For over nine months, the Arakan Army, a rebel group, has been engaged in conflict with Myanmar’s junta government. The X account Kreaty.in, responsible for spreading the false claim, had previously disseminated another fake report in December, alleging that the Arakan Army had occupied Bangladesh’s Teknaf region. At that time, Rumor Scanner published a detailed fact-check report (here), debunking the claim.

Conclusion

The claim that Myanmar’s Arakan Army has occupied Bangladesh’s Saint Martin’s Island is completely false.

Sources

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