Kingpin Saiful among 3 ‘yaba peddlers’ killed in ‘gunfights’

A yaba kingpin and two other drug peddlers were killed in separate “gunfights” with police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members in Cox’s Bazar and Dinajpur early today.

Of the deceased, Saiful Karim was one of the top yaba traders as per the home ministry’s list. He was wanted in seven cases, reports our staff correspondent from Cox’s Bazar.

Saiful was arrested recently and during interrogation he revealed that a consignment of yaba pills was being smuggled into Bangladesh from Myanmar through the Naf river, said Pradip Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station.

Saiful Karim. Photo courtesy: Prothom Alo

Police along with Saiful raided the area around 3:00am to seize the yaba pills, the police official said.

Sensing presence of the lawmen, the yaba kingpin’s associates opened fire, prompting the policemen to fire back that triggered a gunfight, OC Pradip added.

At one stage, Saiful was caught in the line of fire and sustained bullet injuries.

Later, he was taken to Teknaf Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared him dead.

Three policemen were injured during the gunfight, the OC said.

Police recovered nine firearms, 42 bullets and one lakh yaba tablets from the spot.

In the meantime, an unidentified yaba trader was killed in a separate “gunfight” with paramilitary force Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in Teknaf municipality area around 8:15am, said Lt Col Faisal Hasan Khan, commander of BGB-2 battalion.

Another yaba peddler, Md Delwar Hossain, 45, was killed in another incident of “gunfight” with members of BGB-20 battalion in Mongla village at Hakimpur of Dinajpur, Lt Col Rashed Mohammad Anisul Haque, commanding officer of Joypurhat BGB Battalion-20 told our Dinajpur correspondent.