2 ‘drug traders’ killed in Cox’s Bazar ‘gunfight’

Two alleged drug peddlers including a Rohingya man were killed in a “gunfight” with Bangladesh Border Guard (BGB) in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar early today.

The deceased were identified as Md Abdul Gafur, 40, of Myanmar’s Mongdu Nafpura area and Md Sadek, 23, of Teknaf’s Keruntali area, our local correspondent reports quoting Lieutenant Colonel Md Foysal Hasan Khan of BGB.

Based on a tip-off, a patrol team of BGB-2 conducted a raid at Kayokkhali canal along Naf river around 3:00 am, the BGB official said.

BGB members signalled a boat to stop when it was entering the canal suspiciously. But the gang opened fire at BGB officials forcing them to retaliate triggering a “gunfight”, Lieutenant Colonel Md Foysal claimed.

The BGB team recovered the bullet-hit bodies of Abdul Gafur and Md Sadek after the drug-peddling gang managed to flee the scene. They also recovered a bag filled with one lakh pieces of yaba tablets from the spot, Md Foysal said. The deceased were later identified by locals.

BGB official, Soldier Md Al Imran was also injured during the “gunfight”, claimed BGB sources.

Meanwhile, BGB members recovered 5.40 lakh yaba pills from a deserted boat in a separate drive in Damdamia Naf river around midnight. Nobody was detained in this connection.