Shawdesh desk: Two people, including a suspected drug peddler, were killed in reported gunfights with the Rapid Action Battalion in Badda and Mirpur in Dhaka on early Thursday.
Senior assistant superintendent of police Kamruzzaman of RAB-1 said that Maharaz Khalifa, 40, a drug peddler of Banani area, was killed in a gunfight with the force at Satarkul in Badda around 1:15am.
A RAB 1 team raided the area after being tipped off that Khalifa and his associates were there for drug dealings. The criminals opened fire as soon as the team reached the spot, triggering a gunfight, Kamruzzaman said.
Khalifa, wounded in the gunfight, was arrested and taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital where doctors pronounced him dead around 3:15am.
Two firearms and 300 Yaba pills were seized from the spot.
A member of RAB was injured during the skirmish, the ASP added.
In another incident Byanga Babu, 38, the alleged second-in-command of the ‘Shahadat Bahini,’ was killed in an alleged gunfight with the RAB in Mirpur’s Beribadh area.
‘Babu, who had fled to India few years ago, recently returned to Dhaka to take part in a killing mission,’ said Major Kazi Saifuddin Ahmed, second-in-command of RAB-4.
Acting on a tip-off, a RAB team went to the spot. Babu was killed in an ensuing gunfight between the team and the criminals around 3:15am, said the official adding that he was wanted in 20 cases, including at least seven murder cases.
A pistol, a magazine and a bullet were seized from the spot, Kazi Saifuddin added.