CONTROVERSIAL former Australian publisher Ross Dunkley has been arrested on drug charges after Myanmar police raided his home in Yangon, according to local media reports.

Dunkley was paraded before the press with another Westerner and eight locals, AKonThi news website reports.

The arrests and seizures were made following a police raid of Dunkley’s rented residence in San Ye Twin Road, Bahan Township, at 8.15am on Thursday, the report says.

The other foreigner arrested was identified as John McKenzie, understood to be a partner with Dunkley in a new media venture.

The suspects were posed in front of a table covered in drug paraphernalia, cash, bags of white powder, marijuana and smoking pipes.

Police Major Thein Win told The Irrawaddy website that Dunkley was apprehended with 797 yaba pills and 303 grams of crystal methamphetamine, or ice, at his home.

Other media reports said 30 yaba tablets were seized, along with 22 grams of ice and 1.5 grams of marijuana.

Dunkley has been charged with the possession and possible sale of drugs.

Possession of or trafficking for sale of banned narcotics carries a minimum 10-year jail sentence with a maximum of unlimited prison time, under Myanmar’s harsh drug laws.

A former Walkley Award winner, Dunkley founded and edited The Myanmar Times and was also involved in the 2007 takeover of the Phnom Penh Post by West Australian mining magnate Bill Clough who recently sold the publication to Malaysian interests accused of having links to the Cambodian government.

Dunkley set up the Myanmar Times in 2000 with Sonny Swe, the son of a high-powered military intelligence officer, who in 2005 was sentenced to 14 years in jail for breaching the country’s censorship laws.

Dunkley had a tense relationship with the new owners and in 2011 was convicted of immigration offences along with the assault of a woman widely reported to be a sex worker. He was sentenced to a month’s jail, but freed immediately after having already served 47 days in prison waiting for the hearing.

In an interview with Mediaweek in October 2017, Dunkley announced he would be setting up Beyond the Box Communications in Myanmar to provide “24-7 live streaming in Burmese”, printing services and e-commerce events.