A suspected drug peddler was killed in a “gunfight” with the Detective Branch of police in Meherpur early yesterday.

Obaidur Rahman, officer-in-charge of Meherpur DB, said one of their teams raided Gangni upazila’s Karamdi village around 3:30am on information that a gang of drug peddlers was holding a meeting there.

Sensing the presence of the DB personnel, the criminals opened fire on them, forcing the law enforcers to retaliate with gunfire, he claimed.

“At one stage, the attackers fled but we found a body on the spot,” he said.

The dead was later identified as Nazmul Hossain, 27, who was facing five cases, including four related to narcotics and one over an attack on border guards in Lalmonrihat’s Burimari, he said.

The OC also claimed to have recovered a gun, a kg of marijuana and a motorcycle from the scene.