Two alleged forest robbers were killed in a ‘shootout’ with members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Shelargang area of the Sundarbans under Mongla upazila on Wednesday morning.
The deceased were identified as Mortoza Hossain Rana, 30, ringleader of ‘Mortoza Bahini’ and son of Habib Sheikh of Joymoni village of the upazila, and Mosharof Hossain,32, deputy commander of ‘Mortoza Bahini’ and son of Abdul Malek of the same village.A team of the elite force conducted a drive in the Sundarbans around 7:50am as part of their regular drive against the forest robbers, said commander of Rab-8 (Barisal) Colonel Faridul Alam who led the operation.When the Rab members reached Shelargang area under Chandpai forest range, the forest robbers opened fire targeting the law enforcers, forcing them to retaliate that triggered a gun battle.The two robbers were caught in the line of fire and died on the spot.After the gunfight that continued for one hour, the robbers fled into the deep forest.Later, the crime busters recovered the bodies of Mortoza and Mosharof from the scene.They also recovered 15 firearms, 39 rounds of bullet and five sharp
weapons. -UNB, Bagerhat
