Three alleged drug peddlers are killed in “gunfights” with law enforcers in Jhenidah and Mymensingh districts.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion arrested three people with 19,000 yaba tablets after intercepting a Dhaka bound bus in the city early yesterday.

Two alleged drug traders were killed in separate “gunfights” with police in Trishal and Tarakanda upazilas early yesterday, days after they were allegedly picked up by the law enforcers.

Police recovered the bullet-hit body of a man in Damurhuda upazila of Chuadanga yesterday, two days after he had allegedly been picked up by plainclothes men.

A suspected drug trader was killed in a “gunfight” with Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in Sherpur on Tuesday night and an alleged drug dealer was injured in another “gunfight” in Mohammadpur of Dhaka early yesterday.

Five more people, including a female, were shot dead in the last four days, in what police claimed were mostly incidents of feuds between various drug-dealing factions.

We tried to be in touch with them to get to know how they react to the ongoing anti-drug drive. All of them have been yaba addicts for a long time. Their phones are switched off.

"The commissioner has not done anything ... Why are you killing him?" Repeating these words, a female voice kept screaming over a mobile phone moments after hearing a gunshot during a phone call, according to an unverified audio clip.

A record 14 people were killed in so-called shootouts in a single day yesterday, taking the tally of those killed in such incidents to 122, amid the countrywide anti-narcotics drive which has been going on for the last 16 days.

It was 1:30pm. Some 1,000 policemen started gathering near Karwan Bazar kitchen market in the capital yesterday. The mobilisation of so many cops drew a huge crowd, curious to know what was happening.

Born and brought up in Chhoba Patti in Dhaka's Gendaria, Rahima used to sell small packets of ganja and heroin inside the squalid slum. Two decades down the line, she now owns at least 10 buildings, moves around in luxurious cars and has big, fat bank accounts.

There seems to be no end in sight of the “gunfights” that are leaving alleged drug peddlers killed during the ongoing anti-narcotics drive across the country.

Around 300 Rab personnel from different battalions with dog squads and a bomb disposal unit cordoned off the Geneva Camp in Mohammadpur yesterday morning.

The mansions of Nazirpara and Moulvipara, two remote villages in the coastal upazila of Teknaf, would fascinate anyone with their architectural beauty.

Narcotics trade continues in at least three known spots in the capital with drug dealers changing their tactics in the face of the ongoing nationwide anti-drugs crackdown.

Jatiya Party Chairman HM Ershad yesterday came down heavily on the government for killing people indiscriminately in the name of a crackdown against the illegal drug trade.

Khulna is like a haven for drug dealers as several policemen, with ranks from constable to officers-in-charge, are directly or indirectly involved in the smuggling and the supply chain.

The Dhaka Metropolitan Police has shortlisted top drug traders in the capital and their patrons including some linked to the ruling Awami League, and will launch a crackdown on them after further scrutiny.

Eight more suspected drug traffickers were killed in “gunfights” with law enforcers across the country yesterday, raising the number of deaths to 42 in the ongoing countrywide anti-narcotics drive in the last nine days.

As the special drive against yaba peddlers goes on in full swing, questions arise why some alleged yaba godfathers in Ukhia-Teknaf, the gateway of smuggling the crazy drug into Bangladesh, whose names have prominently figured in multiple intelligence reports, remain out of the net.