Staff Correspondent:

Despite the home ministry’s announcement of a hefty reward 10 days ago, no one has yet provided police with information leading to the recovery of any of the 1,300 firearms looted from police stations and outposts in July and August last year.

Police officials said many of the stolen weapons were sold to criminals and are now being used in crimes across the country.

Some of those involved in the looting reportedly dumped firearms and ammunition in rivers and other waterbodies, fearing legal consequences, and remain reluctant to disclose any information about the missing arms, they said.

Shahjada Md Asaduzzaman, additional deputy inspector general (operations) of Police Headquarters, said “We are yet to get any information from any unit of the police regarding people giving tips about the looted firearms and ammunition after the reward announcement.”

He, however, said regular operations of police against illegal firearms and drugs are continuing.

Police officials and experts stressed on a coordinated drive to recover the firearms, saying this may pose serious threats ahead of the general election.

On August 25 last year, Home Adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury announced rewards for information leading to the recovery of looted firearms.

The highest reward of Tk 5 lakh was offered for the recovery of a light machine gun, Tk 1.5 lakh for a sub-machine gun, Tk 1 lakh for a Chinese rifle, Tk 50,000 for a pistol or shotgun, and Tk 500 for each bullet.

He said the identity of informants will be kept strictly confidential.

The Awami League government was overthrown in a student-led uprising on August 5 last year, when 5,753 firearms and 6,51,609 rounds of ammunition were looted from various police stations and outposts, according to police headquarters.

More than 1,300 firearms and over 2,50,000 rounds of ammunition remain missing, with many reportedly now in the hands of criminals.

Among the unrecovered weapons are rifles, sub-machine guns, light machine guns, 7.62x25mm pistols, 9x19mm pistols, shotguns, gas guns, teargas launchers, and pistols.

Police officials said recovery efforts have included regular operations, waterbody searches, and interrogations of suspects linked to the looting. However, progress has been slow due to a lack of reliable leads.

“We are seeing lack of people’s cooperation. We hope the reward announced by the home ministry will motivate witnesses to come forward,” said an official of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

The looting of police weapons and their use in crimes has raised alarm among local communities as their use was reported in different parts of the country.

Clashes and exchange of fire in the Geneva camp occurred in the regular intervals and law enforcers suspected that criminals have the firearms looted from Mohammadpur Police Station in July and August last year.

On April 4 this year, police conducted a raid in Khulna city and arrested two men and recovered two foreign-made pistols, a shotgun, and seven shotgun shells from them.

The recovered shotgun and shells were marked “BD Police,” indicating they were looted from police custody.

In December last year, 22-year-old Shahida Akhter was shot dead on the Dhaka-Mawa highway in Munshiganj by her alleged lover, Touhid Sheikh, alias Tanmoy.

Police said Tanmoy confessed to killing her with a pistol stolen from Wari Police Station on August 5 last year. The weapon was later recovered from water under the Battali Bailey Bridge in South Keraniganj.

Omar Faruk, a professor of criminology and police science at Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, said the unrecovered looted police firearms pose a serious security threat.

“The home ministry’s award announcement is a positive step to encourage the public to provide information to the police and joint forces. People should come forward,” he said.

“These looted firearms have fallen into criminal hands, and ordinary people who took them away last year are not using those. Law enforcers need to identify the criminals and recover those firearms,” he stressed.

He added that authorities must also recover illegal weapons used against students during the mass uprising and take strict measures, especially in border areas, to prevent the smuggling of illegal firearms.

These firearms can be use during the general election, hampering a free and fair polls, he said.