Bullet-riddled body of 'drug peddler' found

Police claimed to have found the bullet-riddled body of a suspected drug dealer in Alalpur area of Faridpur, two days after he was allegedly picked up by several plainclothes detectives.

Azad Kha, 45, was accused of drug dealing in four cases, AFM Nasim, officer-in-charge of Faridpur Sadar Police Station, said.

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With the ongoing anti-narcotic drive drawing controversy over the killing of Teknaf municipality councilor Akramul Haque, no incident of death in “shootout” was reported yesterday.

Since the ongoing anti-narcotics drive started, at least 132 people, branded by law enforcers as drug dealers, were shot dead.

In yesterday's incident, OC AFM Nasim said police found 98 yaba pills on Azad's body.

He claimed that locals noticed the body beside Faridpur-Barisal road in the morning and informed police. 

A police team then recovered the body around 12:15pm and sent it to Faridpur Medical College Hospital for autopsy.

Azad's sister Sahera Begum, said, “Several plainclothes men, identifying themselves as detectives, picked my brother up from his friend's house in Gazaria area around 2:00am on Saturday. My brother was missing since then.”

Rakibul Islam, officer-in-charge of Detective Branch of police in Faridpur, said, “We did not arrest Azad, I have no idea about this Azad's killing.”

Azad's sister also told The Daily Star that police had been looking for him for the last one month.

“Kotwali police came to my brother's house looking for him several days ago.”

She said the family was unaware of Azad's involvement in drug dealing.

In Cox's Bazar, Ayesha Begum, wife of Akramul alleged at a press conference on Thursday that her husband was murdered in cold blood. She gave journalists four unverified audio clips of chilling conversations in support of her claim.

Rab denied the allegation and claimed he was killed in a gunfight between the elite force and drug dealers in Cox's Bazar on May 27.