Drugs purge: Death toll ticks up overnight

At least eleven more people, including a Teknaf councillor, have been killed in alleged shootouts amidst a nationwide anti-drug purge by Bangladesh’s security forces.

Deaths were reported from Cox’s Bazar, Bagerhat, Khulna, Chattogram, Jhenaidah, Chandpur, Kushtia, Mymensingh, Noakhali, Meherpur and Thakurgaon.

At least 79 people have been killed in alleged shootouts since law enforcers began an anti-drug campaign on May 19 under orders from the prime minister.

Security forces claim that all of the dead are involved in drug trafficking, but human rights organisations have raised questions about these reported incidents.

Many of the initial deaths were reported to be from ‘crossfire’ during confrontations between criminals and law enforcers, but security forces claim that several of the recent deaths occurred during internal conflict among rival gangs of drug traffickers.

TEKNAF COUNCILLOR

A councillor of Teknaf Municipality in Cox’s Bazar has been killed in what the Rapid Action Battalion or RAB said was a gunfight during an anti-drug drive.

Councillor Md Akramul Haque, 46, a former chief of Teknaf Juba League, was on a Department of Narcotics Control list of ‘top drug dealers’, according to the elite force.

It said the gunfight took place when drug traders opened fire on RAB personnel during a raid on Noakhalipara neighbourhood around 1:30am on Sunday.

Akramul’s bullet-hit body was found at the scene after the ‘gunfight’, RAB-7 commander Lt Col Miftah Uddin Ahmed told bdnews24.com.

The law enforcers recovered 10,000 methamphetamine tablets or yaba, a pistol, a gun, six bullets and five bullet cases from the scene.

OTHER DEATHS

Police allegedly killed Raihan Uddin, 28, suspect in seven cases, including some over drug-trafficking charges, in a ‘shootout’ in Chattogram’s Sitakunda around 1am.

Selim, 27, a suspect in seven drug-related cases, was killed in an alleged shootout with police in Chandpur’s south Matlab early on Sunday morning, police said.

Police say the bullet-ridden body of ‘known drug dealer’ Rafiqul Islam Liton, 40, was found in Jhenaidah’s Shailkupah around 1am on Sunday.

An unknown man was killed in a ‘shootout’ with Detective Branch (DB) police in Mymensingh’s Morakhala area around 1:30pm, Mymensingh Detective Branch police OC Ashiqur Rahman told bdnews24.com.

Hassan, an alleged drug dealer accused in 21 cases, was killed in an alleged shootout with police in Noakhali’s  Shonaimuri.

Police say a detainee named Abul Kalam Mollah, 40, was killed in a ‘shootout’ between a police team and his alleged accomplices when he was taken on a raid in Khulna’s Dighlia Upazila. Mollah was accused in five drug-related cases, they added.

Suspected drug dealer Halim Mandal, 35, was killed in an alleged shootout with police in Kushtia town around 1:30am, police said.

A suspect named Mitul Biswas, 45, was killed in an alleged shootout in Bagerhat’s Chitalmari Upazila. Biswas was detained on Saturday night in connection with nine cases, including narcotics charges and murder, and taken on a raid. He was killed during a ‘shootout’ between the raid team and his accomplices, police say.

Fifty-one-year-old Rafiqul Islam aka Taliban was killed in an alleged shootout with police in Thakurgaon’s Ranisankail Upazila, law enforcers say. Rafiqul was accused in 20 drug-related cases, said Ranisankail Police OC Md Abdul Mannan.

Hafizul Islam Hafi, 45, was killed in a shootout between ‘two gangs of drug traffickers’ in Meherpur’s Gangani, said local police chief Harendranath Sarkar. Hafi was accused in at least 20 drug-related cases, he said.

Law enforcers say they have recovered large quantities of yaba and other narcotics, as well as various firearms and weapons during the raids.