Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal accused the Rohingya drug dealers of the shootout in Nomansland at Tumbru border of Bandarban. He says this issue is being investigated.
He said these in response to a question from journalists after the program of Fire Service and Civil Defense Week-2022 at the parade ground of Mirpur Fire Service Training Complex in the capital on Tuesday afternoon.
Before that, a DGFI officer was shot dead by drug smugglers during a joint operation between RAB and DGFI on Monday midnight at Tumbru border in Bandarban. A RAB member was also injured in the incident.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) assured the information in a press release at 1 am on Tuesday.
Although the name of the deceased officer has not been disclosed, it has been reported that he is an Air Force officer. Besides, the press release stated that the injured RAB member is Sohel Barua (30).
According to ISPR, a joint anti-narcotics operation by RAB and the DGFI on Monday led to an encounter with drug smugglers in the Tumbru border area of Bandarban. A DGFI officer was martyred and a RAB member was injured during the shootout. The injured RAB member was taken to Cox’s Bazar general Hospital immediately.
“The shooting incident took place at the Konarpara border of Tumbru on Monday around 8 pm,” a senior officer of RAB confirmed to the media, “The smugglers fired at them just after a team of RAB went on the operation. Then the members of the joint team fired back.”
An officer of Cox’s Bazar Police said, “After the shootout, a shot-down woman’s body was rescued. But, her identity cannot be published right now. Constable Sohel Barua was shot in his right leg. His head was bleeding severely as it was injured by the hit of something sharp. Then he was taken to Cox’s Bazar general Hospital immediately.”
Chairman of the Rohingya camp management committee at the Tumbru border, Dil Mohammad also assured the death of a woman.
However, Sohel was brought to Dhaka by helicopter around 2:30 am as his condition got worse. He has been admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH). Later, he underwent an operation on his head in the morning.
“He is now out of danger”, assured Md. Fazle Elahi (Milad), Associate Professor of Neurosurgery Department of DMCH. He said to the media, “We operated on Sohel Barua around 5 am. He had a lot of blood clots on his head that were surgically removed. CT scan has been done. Reports indicate that his surgery was successful. Now he is in much better condition and able to talk.”
He also said that Sohel may be released within two days.
The Home Minister said about the incident, “The enforcement team went there on an anti-narcotics operation on the basis of information from intelligence agencies. An officer was accidentally shot dead there. We are working on how he was shot and which drug dealers shot him. We will make it clearer about this incident later.”
At the time he blamed the Rohingya drug dealers saying, “Rohingya terrorists did this in Nomansland on Tumbru border of Bandarban. No one involved in this incident will be spared.”
