2 ‘human traffickers’ killed in Cox’s Bazar ‘gunfight’

Two alleged human traffickers including a Rohingya youth were killed in a reported gunfight with police in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar early today.

The deceased were identified as Omar Faruk, 19, son of Habibullah and a resident of Kutupalang Rohingya camp and Md Rubel, 23, hailed from Teknaf.

Both of them were fugitive accused in a case filed over trafficking 49 Rohingyas. Also, they were used to take money from Rohingya people promising to send them to Malaysia, our Cox’s Bazar staff correspondent reports quoting police  

Tipped-off, a police team conducted a raid in Katabunia ghat area of Sabrong union around 1:00am to arrest the duo, said Officer-in-charge of Teknaf Model Police Station Pradip Kumar Das.

Sensing presence of the law enforcers, the traffickers opened fire on them prompting police to fire back in self-defence that triggered the “gunfight”, said the OC.

The youths were caught in the line of fire and suffered bullet wounds, he said adding that doctors pronounced them dead after they were taken to local upazila health complex.

Three police personnel who were hurt during the “gun battle” were given first aid, according to the police official.

Two light guns, 11 bullets and 18 cartridges were recovered from the scene, police said.