Suspected drug dealer dies in ‘encounter’ with RAB in Chittagong

A man, claimed to be a drug dealer by police, has been killed in an ‘encounter’ in Chittagong late on Saturday.

The dead, Zafar Ahmed, 35, was the prime accused in a case concerning the haul of a large yaba consignment in the port city in May, says the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).
 
The shootout occurred around 11:45pm near a check-post on the Sea Beach Road in Patenga, said RAB-7 chief Lt Col Mifta Uddin.
   
The force had signalled two motorbikes to stop, said the RAB official. “But they opened fire and tried to escape. The RAB retaliated. One of the pillion riders were shot and fell off the bike.”
 
He was taken to the Chittagong Medical College and Hospital, where the doctors pronounced him dead, added Uddin.

RAB later confirmed the victim’s identity. A pistol and 10,000 yaba tablets were found on his body.
 
On May 13, RAB had seized a consignment of 500,000 yaba tablets from a fishing trawler at the Chittagong port’s outer anchorage. Seven men were detained from the boat during the raid.
 
Their interrogation revealed the consignment was for one Zafar Ahmed, later named as the prime suspect in the case, according to the RAB-7 chief.