CNI News

10 February 2026

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Chairman of the State Security and Peace Commission, stated that armed organizations are seeking their own interests through the production and sale of narcotics and the illegal extraction of local natural resources.

He made these remarks during a meeting with the Chairman of the Election Commission, the Chairman of the Naypyidaw Council, and Chief Ministers of Regions and States on February 9, 2026.

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing said, "In unstable regions, organizations carrying out terrorist acts with weapons are forcibly seeking self-interest for their own benefit by producing and selling drugs, and illegally extracting natural resources produced in those areas."

He further stated that due to these terrorist organizations, regional instability has occurred, leading to the closure of basic education schools and causing many children to lose their fundamental rights. He added that to ensure the public can fully enjoy peace and stability, terrorist organizations must be suppressed by mobilizing the strength of the Military (Tatmadaw), the Myanmar Police Force, and the public.

In Myanmar, on February 1, 2021, the Myanmar Military ousted the NLD government, claiming it attempted to form a government without resolving disputes over the 2020 general election voter lists.

Subsequently, the NUG, CRPH, NUCC, PDFs, and several Ethnic Armed Organizations (EAOs) have been striving to topple the Myanmar Military, leading to intense armed conflicts across the country.

Alongside these armed conflicts, there has been an increase in drug prevalence and smuggling within Myanmar. Armed groups have also engaged in the extraction and sale of local natural resources to fund the purchase of weapons and ammunition.

Military and political observers have pointed out that armed organizations are increasingly using the illegal import of drugs, arms smuggling, and the extraction of natural resources for their own personal gain.