One killed in Sundarbans 'gunfight'; notorious 'Dulabhai Bahini' gang chief among two held
Coast Guard has yet to issue an official statement as the operation continues, while police and forest officials say they are awaiting details of the reported gunfight
A night of terror unfolded in the depths of the Sundarbans as a gunfight erupted between the Coast Guard and the notorious pirate gang "Dulabhai Bahini" in the Moydafesa Khal area, leaving a fisherman dead and two pirates, including the gang leader, in custody.
The silence of the mangrove forest was shattered between 10pm and 11pm yesterday (25 June) when residents of Tetultalar Char village in Koyra Upazila heard a volley of intense gunfire echoing from the nearby forest under the Koyra patrol post.
The scale of the clash became evident this morning when the Coast Guard arrived at the Koyra Upazila Health Complex at 9:55am carrying the bullet-ridden body of a man and the heavily injured and shot leader of the pirate outfit, Robiul Islam.
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Robiul was subsequently rushed to Khulna Medical College Hospital for advanced treatment.
The deceased was identified as Shawkat Sardar, 60, a resident of Tetultala Guchhagram and son of Izhar Sardar. While the nature of the gunfight pointed toward a direct clash with pirates, local Upazila Parishad member Mizanur Rahman Khokan revealed a more tragic undertone to the casualty.
"Shawkat Sardar was not a robber; he was a simple fisherman," Khokan stated. According to the local representative, Shawkat's younger son, Afzal, was involved with the Dulabhai gang.
Following a monetary dispute over a demand of Tk18 lakh, the pirates had abducted elderly Shawkat from his home, holding him hostage to extract the money from his son.
The gravity of the security operation was mirrored in the tight restrictions on the ground, as journalists were barred from entering the hospital premises, and law enforcement agencies refrained from releasing immediate official statements.
Koyra Police Station Officer-in-Chief (OC) Shah Alam and Assistant Conservator of Forests (Khulna Range) Shariful Islam both acknowledged hearing reports of the heavy gunfire and the casualty, but noted that the Coast Guard was handling the ongoing operation on its own.
Compounding the gang's losses, locals in the Tetultala area cornered and detained another bullet-injured man, identified as Israfil, 26, in the morning. Recognising him as an active member of the Dulabhai pirate gang, they handed him over to the police, a development later confirmed by OC Shah Alam.
With two cornered and one dead, the light of dawn revealed a charred and tense landscape.
Local witnesses reported seeing both raging fires and hearing heavy ammunition being discharged inside the Sundarbans throughout the night.
Curiously, because the forest is currently undergoing its official closed season, no licensed fishermen were legally present in the area, adding a layer of mystery that the Forest Department has yet to clarify.
Who is 'Dulabhai'?
The architect of this forest terror is Robiul Islam, a former fisherman from Maheshwaripur who once served under the notorious 'Ilias Bahini'.
When Ilias was killed, Robiul – who was married to Ilias's sister – took the reins of the armed outfit, earning the gang its unusual moniker, "Dulabhai" (brother-in-law) "Bahini" (Force), among local fishermen.
When a sweeping anti-pirate crackdown cleansed the Sundarbans in 2018, Robiul fled across the border to India.
Marked by a legacy of violence, including a 2015 murder case, Robiul previously told this correspondent in an exclusive interview that he had no intention of surrendering.
"Though I was born in Bangladesh, I hold Indian citizenship. When piracy is no longer viable here, I will cross back over into India," Robiul had confidently claimed, boasting that his arsenal of 18 firearms – including Chinese rifles and shotguns – was smuggled from India.
The gang leader, who chose to recruit locally from Maheshwaripur and projected himself as a leader of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, chose a path of armed resistance over surrender, knowing his legal record precluded any hope of a full pardon.
That path effectively ran out in the mangroves of Moydafesa Khal under the cover of darkness.
