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

Two alleged drug traders were killed in a “gunfight” with law enforcers in Cox's Bazar yesterday.

Both the dead, Md Nizam Uddin, 30, and Ratan Rudra, 31, were from Chittagong's Lohagara upazila.

According to Rab sources, the Rab-7 set up a check post on Cox's Bazar-Chittagong Highway in Ramu upazila's Paner Chhara Bazar area early yesterday.

Maj Md Mehedi Hasan, company commander of Rab-7, said when the Rab team signalled for a fuel truck to pull over, its passengers opened fire on law enforcers around 7:00am. The elite force fired retaliatory shots, triggering the “gunfight”.

When the shooting stopped after a while, the Rab men found two bullet-hit men in the vehicle. The duo was rushed to Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital where doctors declared them dead.

The Rab claimed to have recovered 4.5 lakh yaba tablets, a pistol, a revolver, two LGs and a huge amount of bullets from the truck which was going to Chittagong from Teknaf.

With the latest incident, at least 214 alleged drug dealers have been killed since the anti-narcotics drive began on May 4. Most of them were killed in so-called gunfights involving the police and Rab.