Bangladesh security forces have shot dead a Rohingya woman in a border town known as a gateway for smuggling meth pills from neighbouring Myanmar, officials said.
Rights activists said Rumana Akter, 20, was the first Rohingya woman to be killed in a clampdown by Bangladesh authorities against the narcotics trade. She was one of three alleged smugglers killed in two separate incidents in Teknaf, which is close to refugee camps housing about one million Muslim Rohingya who have fled from Myanmar.
Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) said the Rohingya woman was killed during a gunfight between security forces and armed smugglers on the Naf river, which acts as a border between Bangladesh and Myanmar.
BGB spokesman Shariful Islam told reporters the woman’s body was found after a 15-minute gunbattle “along with 10,000 pieces of yaba and three sharp knives in her bag”. Akter came from a refugee camp in Teknaf. (Agencies)
