Four suspected drug peddlers have been killed in separate gunfights involving the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) and the police in Bangladesh.
The so-called shootouts took place in Dhaka and Cox's Bazar's Teknaf Upazila in the early hours of Friday, reports bdnews24.com.
Acting on a tip-off, the RAB set up a check-post in the Diabari area under the Turag Police Station to apprehend the drug smugglers, according to RAB-1's ASP Md Kamruzzaman.
"A motorcycle was heading towards the check-post and when the RAB officers motioned for the riders to pull over, they opened fire on the law enforcers who shot back at them."
The wounded men were subsequently taken to Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital where the on-duty doctor declared them dead.
The RAB recovered to guns, nine rounds of bullets, 3,090 yaba tablets and Tk 10,000 from the scene.
The dead men, identified as Ibrahim Khalil, 45, and Omar Faruk, were implicated in 29 drug-related cases with various police stations in Dhaka and Gazipur, said Kamruzzaman.
Meanwhile in Teknaf, a union council member and a Rohingya refugee were gunned down in a shootout with police early Friday.
The incident took place in the Upazila's Hnila Union, according to Teknaf Police OC Pradip Kumar Das.
The dead men were identified as Bakhtiar Ahmed aka Moulvi Bakhtiar, member of Rajapalong Union Parishad's ward No. 9 in Ukhiya, and Mohammed Taher, 27, a resident of Kutupalong Rohingya Camp.
The two had built a cartel to trade the methamphetamine-based yaba tablets, said police. They were on the run with several cases under the narcotics law hanging over them.
On Thursday, police arrested a man named Mohammed Yunus carrying yaba tablets in Hnila Union's Wabrang area. Later, police conducted a raid on the Kutupalong Rohingya Camp with Yunus in tow when Bakhtiar and Taher were caught with Tk 1 million in cash.
Based on the information they divulged during interrogation, police raided the home of Nur Hossain, a migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, to recover a consignment of yaba and illegal firearms, said OC Pradip.
"But when the law enforcers arrived on the scene, the drug traders' associates opened fire on them, prompting a retaliation."
Bakhtiar and Taher were wounded gunfight before being taken to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital. There, they were declared dead by the doctors on duty, said Pradip.
Three policemen were also injured while the law-enforcement agency recovered 20,000 yaba tablets, five guns and 19 bullets, he added.
