On 14 May 2025, security forces killed ten armed militants and recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition in Manipur’s Chandel district near the Indo-Myanmar border (here and here). Following this, a video (here, here and here) went viral on social media, showing a large collection of seized weapons. It is being claimed that the video shows the Indian Army recovering a huge cache of weapons and cash from militants in Manipur. Let’s find out the truth behind this video.
Claim: The viral video shows the Indian Army seizing a huge cache of weapons and cash from Kuki terrorists in Manipur.
Fact: The viral video is not from India or Manipur. It shows the April 2025 capture of Falam town in Myanmar by Chin Brotherhood rebels, who took control of the last Myanmar Army base there. Hence, the claim is FALSE.
To verify the truth, we closely examined the video and observed that the armed personnel near the seized property had ‘BNRA’ written on their uniforms. India has no regiment by this name. In fact, BNRA stands for Burma National Revolution Army, an armed insurgent group operating in Myanmar’s Sagaing Division (here and here), indicating that the video is not from India.
To find the origin of the video, we performed a reverse image search using keyframes from the footage. This led us to similar videos that were widely shared on social media in April 2025. Many posts linked the video to the BNRA and the Chin Brotherhood movement (here, here and here). Additionally, numerous users from Myanmar shared the same visuals, associating the footage with various rebel groups opposing the current military government in Myanmar, particularly under the banner of the Chin Brotherhood.
Further research led us to multiple news reports from Myanmar showing similar visuals. According to these reports (here, here, and here), on 9 April 2025, after about five months of fighting, Chin Brotherhood rebel forces announced that they had captured the last remaining Myanmar Army base in Falam town, Chin State. By seizing this base, which belonged to the Army’s Infantry Battalion (IB) 268, the Chin Brotherhood gained full control of Falam town in northern Chin State.
Additionally, several reports published by Myanmar media outlets in April 2025, documenting the capture of Falam town by Chin Brotherhood forces from the Myanmar Army, can be found here and here. Based on this evidence, we can conclude that the viral video shows the April 2025 incident when Chin Brotherhood rebel forces took control of Falam town.
To sum up, video of a seized army base in Myanmar is falsely shared as visuals of Indian Army’s capture of weapons from Kuki militants in Manipur.
