A ‘Yaba kingpin’ was killed in a reported gunfight with police on the bank of Naf River in Teknaf upazila early Friday.
The deceased was identified Hazi Saiful Karim, 46, listed as No 1 drug trader in the Home Ministry’s list. He was wanted in seven cases.
Pradip Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station, said police arrested Saiful from Teknaf recently and after interrogation they came to know that a big consignment of Yaba pills was being smuggled into the country from Myanmar through Naf River.
Police along with Saiful conducted a drive around 3 am in the area to seize the Yaba pills.
Sensing presence of the law enforcers, the associates of Saiful opened fire on the policemen, prompting them to fire back that triggered a gunfight.
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.
Sub-inspector Rasel Ahmed, 35, Constable Imam Hossain, 30, and Constable Mohammad Solaiman, 36, were injured during the gunfight.
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