Drive begins to recover illegal arms on Sept 4

All firearms and ammunition issued over the last 15 years will be considered illegal if these are not submitted to police stations by tomorrow.
The government has decided to conduct a joint operation, comprising the members of armed forces, BGB, Coast Guard, police, Rab, and Ansar, across the country from September 4 to recover the illegal firearms, including those with suspended licences.
The home ministry issued a circular in this regard yesterday.
For conducting drives, Home Affairs Adviser Lt Gen (retd) Jahangir Alam Chowdhury in a press statement yesterday said, “Law enforcers will have to identify themselves during any drive and arrest, and under no circumstances, they can make any arrest without showing their identities.”
The home ministry instructed all the district magistrates to hold a core committee meeting today, comprised of superintendents of police, representatives of the armed forces, intelligence agencies, and other members, read the circular.
The meeting will review the list of suspended licences.
On August 25, the ministry suspended licences of weapons issued to civilians over the last 15 years — January 6, 2009, and August 5, 2024 — during the Awami League rule.
Yesterday, the ministry asked the authorities to inform the licence bearers through text messages for submission of the firearms, and ammunition to their nearby police stations.
Md Kamrul Ahsan, additional deputy inspector general (confidential) of Police Headquarters, told The Daily Star yesterday, “The firearms with suspended licences will be considered illegal if these are not handed over to police stations by September 3 [tomorrow].”
He asked the owners of the weapons to submit then within the timeframe to avoid legal action.
According to sources in the Special Branch of police, they have a database of 50,310 gun owners. However, the officials are yet to get the actual figure of how many licences were issued during the AL rule.
A top SB official, requesting anonymity, told this newspaper, “We are working to update the database and are hopeful of completing the work within a day or two.”
Yesterday in a directive, the PHQ announced that all firearms and ammunition looted from police stations during the recent violence must be returned by tomorrow.
Kamrul Ahsan, additional DIG of PHQ, said, “We are giving priority to recovering the looted guns … .”
As of yesterday, a total of 3,880 weapons of various types, looted from police stations and offices, during the recent unrest, have been recovered. In addition, law enforcers have recovered 2,86,353 bullets, 22,201 teargas canisters, and 2,139 stun grenades.