Shawdesh Desk:

Two Rohingya men were shot dead in what the members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) called a gunfight with them in Teknaf of Cox’s Bazar early Monday.

The deceased — Md Jamal, 27, and Md Yunus, 21, from Myanmar’s Akiab — were involved with yaba trade, according to BGB.

Yaba is a methamphetamine-based stimulant that translates in Thai as ‘crazy medicine’ which has become popular in Bangladesh.

BGB-2 commanding officer Mohammad Foysal Hasan Khan told Prothom Alo that the Rohingya men were killed during a gunfight between security forces and armed yaba smugglers around 1:30am at Hnila union’s Damdamia area in the upazila.

He added that two men were found bullet-hit after a 10-minute gunbattle along with 50,000 pieces of yaba pills, two locally-made guns, three bullets and three sharp weapons.

The injured were taken to Teknaf Upazila Health Complex first and later shifted to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital’s emergency department where physicians declared them dead.

Since 4 May, a total 167 people were killed in anti-narcotic raids and gunfights in Cox’s Bazar district. Of them, 46 nationals were from Myanmar.