Cox’s Bazar: Three suspected human traffickers were killed in a ‘gunfight’ with police in a shrimp enclosure in Teknaf upazila in the early hours of Friday.

The deceased are Dhalu Hossain, in his fifties, of Shah Pariri Dwip village, Jafar Alam, in his thirties, of Hariakali village, and Jahangir Alam, in his thirties, of Katabania village under Sabrang union of the upazila.

The Teknaf police said, a team of police conducted a raid in a shrimp enclosure at about 3:30am. Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the human traffickers opened fire to police, prompting them to retaliate, triggering a gunfight.

Dhalu, Jafar and Jahangir were caught in the line of fire and sustained bullet injuries.

Later they were taken to Teknaf Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared them dead.

Four policemen were injured during the gunfight, said police.

Police suspected that all the three human traffickers were members of international human trafficking syndicate of Thailand and Malaysia.

They were wanted in several cases filed with Teknaf Police Station, said police.