CMP chief defends killings of drug suspects as the key to peace

Chattagram Metropolitan Police chief Mahabubor Rahman has said the extermination of drug suspects is the most effective way in law enforcement agencies’ anti-narcotics battle.

“Religious preaching will not work; appeasing big brothers will not work. The most effective way is the extermination of drug suspects -- the loss of life in real sense,” Rahman said at an event in the port city on Tuesday, about four months after the law-enforcement agencies started a drug purge leading to the deaths of about 250 people in so-called shootouts across the country.

His comments received a round of applause from his colleagues in the audience at the Muslim Institute Hall. Rahman spoke as the chief guest at the event.

The law enforcement agencies have swung into action as part of the nationwide anti-drug crackdown ordered by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Rahman said. “What I make sense of it as the main issue here is that no advice will work.”

“The loss of life is for the sake of peace. We must crack down on disorder. If they [drug suspects] attack us with weapons, we have every right to use our weapons on them. That’s the way forward,” Rahman said.

If the drug dealers think that illegal trade may endanger their lives, they should move away into other business, Rahman said.
 
Since May when the prime minister announced a war on drugs, ‘drug dealers’ died almost every night in alleged ‘gunfights’ with the law-enforcement agencies.
 
Human rights activists expressed their concerns over alleged gunfights or crossfires and described the deaths as “extrajudicial killings”.
 
On the other hand, the government continued to say that the government was going ahead with the principle of 'zero tolerance' against drugs. 

No-one involved with drugs will be spared, no matter who they are, according to the government.
 
The war on drugs will continue until trafficking is brought under control, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan had earlier said.
 
In most cases, the security forces have maintained that the suspects were involved in drug trafficking and resisted arrest leading to gun battles that left them dead.
 
In this regard, the CMP commissioner said drug dealers possessed arms for their protection.