The government begins a joint drive across the country early Wednesday in an effort to recover illegal firearms following the end of the deadline for depositing the firearms and ammunitions.
According to the Home Affairs Ministry statement, the joint operation will start across the country against illegal firearms at midnight (12am).
Earlier, the interim government suspended all license of firearms issued during the Awami League government. The authorities concerned also asked gun owners to deposit their firearms and ammunition along with the suspended licences to the relevant police stations within 3 September.
Briefing reporters after a meeting on law and order situation, home adviser Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said the joint drive to recover illegal arms would begin Wednesday.
“The deadline for depositing legal and illegal firearms is being ended on Tuesday. The drive will begin across the country at Tuesday midnight,” he said.
He also sought co-operations from all so that they could recover the illegal firearms.
When asked whether the drug lords would be brought to book, the home adviser said that they ran a discussion to control the drug abuse.
“We have discussed how we can address the drug abuse. We are going to take some measures in this regard as it is necessary to control the drug abuse. We are working to bring the drug lords to book,” he said.
The government announced to conduct the joint drive to recover illegal weapons, just a month after the fall of Sheikh Hasina-led government amid a mass upsurge.
Earlier, the interim government has suspended all license of firearms issued during the Awami League government.
At the same time, instructions were given to deposit firearms with ammunition to the concerned police station by September 3.
During the recent movement against the Hasina-led government, several police stations came under attacks, resulting in the looting of arms from various units and duty posts.
According to the Police Headquarters (PHQ), 450 police stations came under attack during the mass upsurge.
A huge number of arms and bullets were looted from the stations during that period.
After the formation of the interim government headed by Dr Muhammad Yunus, authorities concerned of law enforcement agencies have been urging people to deposit the looted weapons.
The police headquarters (PHQ) also issued a note warning that legal actions will be taken if these weapons and ammunitions are not returned by September 3.
Sources say there are currently around 50,000 legally registered firearms in the country. Of those, over 10,000 weapons are in the hands of political party leaders and activists, the majority of whom are members of the Awami League.
Many of these individuals received their firearm licenses during the period following the Awami League's return to power in 2009.
