Three suspected robbers were killed in a reported gunfight with police at Rongikhali hill area in Teknaf upazila early Wednesday.
The deceased were identified as Shaheed Alam, 32, Nurul Alam, 28 and Sayed Hossain, 35 of the upazila.
Tipped off, a team of police conducted a drive in the area around 4 am when a group of robbers were preparing to commit robbery, said Deepak Kumar Das, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station.
Sensing presence of the law enforcers, the criminals opened fire on police, forcing them to fire back in self-defence.
After a brief gunfight, police recovered the bodies of the three robbers.
Eighteen firearms and huge quantity of Yaba pills were also recovered from the spot.