1 killed as smugglers clash with police

A suspected gold smuggler was killed during a "clash" between police and his accomplices in Jashore's Sharsha upazila yesterday.

Oli Makra, 34, of Jashore, was killed and two of his accomplices -- Robin Sarkar, 32, and Abul Kashem, 34, of Cumilla -- were detained, said police.

Tap here to add The Daily Star as a trusted source

Thirty gold bars, worth Tk 7.5 crore, a car, and three motorcycles were seized from the accused, the law enforcers added.

Acting on a tip-off, the Detective Branch of police set up a checkpoint on Jashore-Satkhira highway. Around 1:00am, they stopped a car.

They found 9.75kg gold in the car, a portion from a storage box of the vehicle and another strapped to detainee Robin's body, police claimed.

Robin and Kashem were detained on the spot.

Later, when police were interrogating them at the checkpoint, a group of men on some 30 motorcycles attacked police and tried to snatch the detainees and the gold bars, claimed the law enforcers.

"They even hurled four to five crude bombs at the law enforcers. In self-defence, police fired rubber bullets," said Jewel Imran, assistant superintendent of Jashore police (Nabharan circle).

Some 200 yards away from the scene, Oli was found lying under a motorcycle with serious injuries. He was rushed to Sharsha Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared him dead, he said.

The police official also said that Oli had no bullet injury. Two policemen were also injured during the clash.