Viral Video Claiming To Show Arms Seizure In Manipur Is Actually From Myanmar

Ten armed insurgents were gunned down by the Army troops in Manipur’s Chandel district on Wednesday (May 14, 2024). The security forces recovered a sizable amount of arms and ammunition from them.

Now, a video allegedly showing the arms recovered by the Army in Manipur during the recent operation has gone viral on social media platforms. Newschecker, however, found the video to be from Myanmar. 

The post can be seen here.

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Fact Check/Verification

We looked up keyphrase “सेना ने मणिपुर में उग्रवादियों से हथियार और नकदी बरामद किया” on Google which yielded a report by India Today, dated May 16, 2025. It stated that security forces killed ten armed insurgents and recovered a large cache of weapons along the India-Myanmar border in Manipur’s Chandel district.

“Following the encounter, the forces launched an extensive combing operation in the area. During the search, troops recovered a significant cache of arms and ammunition, including seven AK-47 rifles, one M4 rifle, one RPG launcher, four single-barrel breech-loading rifles, and other war-like stores” the report further detailed.

It also featured an image of the arms seized in Manipur during the recent operation. On comparing the image with the keyframes of the viral clip, we found them to be different.

We then checked the keyframes of the viral clip on Google Lens which yielded multiple social media posts from April 2025 carrying the same footage, thereby confirming that it is not related to the May 14 operation in Manipur. One such post carried a caption in Burmese language, while multiple others mentioned “Falam” and “Chin brotherhood.”

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Furthermore, we also spotted the insignia of BNRA (Burma National Revolution Army) switched on the uniform of a man seen in the viral clip. 

Using this a clue, we looked up relevant keywords in Burmese on Google which led us to multiple reports from April 2025 stating that the Chin Brotherhood has taken complete control over the Falam town in northern Chin state after capturing the base of Army’s Infantry Battalion (IB) 268. They also featured visuals from the same.

After comparing the keyframes of the viral clip with an image featured in a report by tachileik.net, we found them to be the same.

There has been an increase in the number of instances of arms seizure in Manipur since ethnic violence started in May 2023. Looking at the recent instances, on May 14, 2025, the Manipur police seized a large cache of arms and ammunition and killed ten armed insurgents in Chandel district. On May 1, 2025, three bunkers were destroyed and a large cache of arms and ammunition, including IEDs, were recovered. Similar recovery of a cache of arms were frequently seen, as on March 29, February 8, January 31 and January 28. 

The Home Ministry data (full dataset on Dataful here) indicates a significant peak in arms recovery between 2005 and 2014, with the highest number being 832 in 2009. However, from 2016 onwards, the annual number of arms recovered remained significantly lower than the 2005-2014 period, generally staying below 130.

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Conclusion

Hence, we find that a video from Myanmar has been falsely shared to show the arms recovered by Indian Army troops in Manipur during a recent operation.

Sources
Report By India Today, Dated May 16, 2025
Report By Myanmar Now, Dated April 9, 2025
Report By tachileik.net, Dated April 9, 2025
Dataful by Factly