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 Dinajpur, Delwar was held by a team of Joypurhat BGB Battalion-20 along with 958 yaba pills from Nandipur village yesterday morning, our local correspondent reports.

Later, the BGB men raided Mongla village to recover stashed drugs based on information gleaned from the arrestee.

As the BGB team reached there, a gang of drug peddlers encircled the BGB members and opened fire. In retaliation, the BGB men fired back that triggered the “gunfight”, leaving Delwar dead on the spot.

Lt Col Rashed Mohammad Anisul Haque, commanding officer of Joypurhat BGB Battalion-20 confirmed the incident.

Later police recovered the body and sent it to M Abdur Rahim Medical College Hospital for autopsy.