Two suspected drug traders were killed in a reported gunfight with members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in Cox’s Bazar’s Teknaf upazila early today.

The deceased were identified as Sabbir Hossain, 25, son of Md Ibrahim Sheikh, hailing from Chitalmari upazila in Bagerhat and Hafizur Rahman, 35, son of Md Abdul Matin of Savar upazila in Dhaka.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Shah Alam, acting company commander of Rab Teknaf office, said that when a covered van was crossing a Rab check post in Domdomia area around 2:30am, the Rab team gave it a signal to stop.

Denying signal, the suspected drug traders opened fire on the Rab team, prompting them to fire back, triggering the “gunfight”.

The two “drug traders” received bullets when they were trying to flee the scene and died on the spot.

However, two others managed to flee, said the Rab official.

The elite force team recovered 40,000 pieces of yaba tablets, a foreign revolver, a one-shooter gun and 11 bullets from the spot.