Staff Reporter :
The drug traffickers, particularly Yaba smugglers, have become desperate in the recent days and started armed confrontation with the law enforcing agencies, including Border Guard Bangladesh [BGB], Bangladesh Coast Guard [BCG] and police.
In the latest incident, three drug smugglers were killed in a fierce gunfight with the members of Coast Guard near Shah Pari Island under Teknaf upazila in Cox’s Bazar district early Friday.
Two BCG personnel also bullet injured during the gun battle. Of them, seriously wounded BCG man Faisal was admitted to Chittagong Medical College Hospital while another one Samad was shifted to Dhaka Combined Military Hospital from the CMH in critical condition.
Confirming the fire exchange incident, Director Operations of BCG Captain Mahmud Hossain Zia told The New Nation Friday night, “The smugglers opened fire on the BCG personnel in the Bay at first near Shah Pari Island and second time near the Saint Martins. At one stage they exchanged live fire with us. Two of our men received severe injuries at that time.”
“We recovered three bodies of the alleged drug traffickers in the afternoon. They were killed during gunfight with Coast Guard members,” Md Jasin Uddin, OC of Cox’s Bazar Sadar Model Police Station, said over telephone yesterday.
Senior security officials said the Teknaf [southeastern bordering sub-town with neighbouring Myanmar] has virtually tuned a battle ground in the last few days when law enforcers have launched an all-out crackdown against the traffickers of Yaba, the intoxicated synthetic drugs which smuggled from other side of the border.
Not only that the desperate Yaba smugglers have also turned the entire bordering riverine route — from Naf River to Shah Pari Island in the Bay — into a battle zone being obstructed by the members of Coast Guard, they added.
Three police personnel, including assistant sub-inspector Joynal Abedin, constable Jasim Uddin and Mahmudul Haque were wounded when the Yaba traders locked in a gun battle at Alikhali in Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar earlier on the night of April 23.
“We are showing zero tolerance to Yaba traders and launched an all-out crackdown against the drug smugglers. In line with this policy, we have intensified our operations in the recent days. We will not let the drug smugglers free,” Captain Mahmud Hossain Zia further said.
Sources said the situation went worse after three organizations-Teknaf Clearing and Forwarding Agents Association, Teknaf Exporters and Importers Association and the Teknaf Owners Association-began an indefinite strike from Tuesday at Teknaf land port demanding release of two arrested drug smugglers claiming them as ‘businessmen’.
Earlier, the BGB handed over Teknaf Clearing and Forwarding Agents Association cashier Md Ayas and member Ziabul Hossain after capturing them with huge quantities of yaba pills.
“No matter how powerful the smugglers are, they must be brought to book. We are discharging our duties…our duty is to prevent smuggling and illegal intrusion on the border,” said Teknaf 42 BGB Commander Lieutenant Colonel Abuzar Al Jahid. It is to be noted that on April 21, about 11 members of BGB-17 battalion received burn injuries following an explosion while destroying the seized narcotics, including Yaba, in the field of the battalion headquarters.
However, State Minister for Home Affairs Asaduzzaman Khan, BGB DG Major General Aziz Ahmed, IGP Hassan Mahmud Khandaker and other senior officials, who were present on the occasion, luckily escaped.
Although Khandaker Saiful Alam, commander of BGB-17 battalion, said that the explosion was an accident, the authority immediately formed an inquiry committee to unearth the mystery behind the incident apprehending it an act of sabotage.
