DHAKA: Bangladesh police on Saturday found the bullet-ridden bodies of two alleged Rohingya drug dealers in a southeastern coastal town notorious for its connection with the Myanmar meth trade.
Teknaf town police chief Prodip Kumar Das said the bodies were found lying next to a highway beside the sea and some 10,000 meth pills were recovered from their possession.
鈥淏oth of these refugees were... notorious drug dealers in the region. We鈥檙e suspecting they were killed in a gang fight over sharing profits,鈥� he said.
The police said they were investigating the deaths but did not provide further information on the two men.
Over 720,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled a brutal military crackdown in Myanmar鈥檚 northern Rakhine state since August 2017 and joined some 300,000 refugees already living in squalid camps in Bangladesh鈥檚 Cox鈥檚 Bazar district.
Bangladeshi authorities say local kingpins use the refugees 鈥� trapped in poverty and unlikely to return home any time soon 鈥� to transport 鈥測aba鈥� pills which are made in Myanmar meth labs.
Yaba is a methamphetamine-based, caffeine-cut stimulant that translates as 鈥渃razy medicine.鈥�
The coastal town on the Naf river that divides the two neighbors is a key entry point through which yaba enters the South Asian nation鈥檚 multi-million dollar drug market.
In May Bangladesh launched a violent anti-drug crackdown which saw the deaths of at least 250 drug dealers, including 26 in Teknaf in the last three months.
Experts have compared the campaign with the Filipino anti-drug war of Rodrigo Duterte, in which police say they have killed nearly 5,000 alleged users and pushers 鈥� although rights groups say the toll is at least triple that.