DHAKA: When the law-enforcing agencies are on high alert to thwart any apprehended sabotage following the arrest of top Jamaat trio, there is no trace of over 40,000 licensed firearms, competent sources said, indicating it as a major threat to country’s internal security.
All these licensed arms and their owners apparently vanished, as separate drives by the Police, the Detective Branch (DB) and elite Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were yet to track down the mysterious misses.
A latest report by an intelligence agency indicates that there are more arms in the hands of criminals beyond the above-mentioned number.
The report, reportedly submitted to the Prime Minister Office authorities recently, identified 40,342 licensed arms and their owners without their whereabouts.
“The licenses of these arms have not been renewed for long. As per law, these arms are now illegal and being used for snatching, robbing and killing,” the report says.
AKM Shahidul Haq, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner, apparently didn’t rule out widespread use of such arms and their uses for criminal offences. In the recent meetings with his deputies, he termed such pervasive use of arms as ‘terrifying’.
“We have asked our officers to go for special drive in July to recover illegal arms,” he was quoted as saying.
According to investigations by bangalnews24.com.bd, there are some 2 lakh licensed arms across the country, around 71 thousand of those in Dhaka.
During the Operation Clean Heart in 2002, the government had asked for depositing all the arms and ammunition, which was responded to with 33,681 turned in. But, some 37,176 arms were not deposited.
Deputy Commissioner, DB, Mahbub Alam told banglanews24.com.bd that they have prepared a list of the owners of these arms, but ‘administrative complexities’ did not allow any step to be taken.
According to Arms Act’s sub-section 19, the punishment for failure to deposit arms would be life imprisonment or minimum 7 years imprisonment. Alam, however, could not explain why any steps were not taken against this backdrop.
“Terrorists deposit firearms with innocent people and police can hardly suspect them. Such a tactic makes it hard for us often,” said Monirul Islam, also Deputy Commissioner of DB.
“Often, VIPs rent out their licensed arms as well,” one DB police source said.
In 2008, the government had asked for depositing firearms with police stations before the parliamentary and upazila elections. But submission was poor.
The same year, the detectives, following a field-level investigation, said more than 3,572 firearms went into the hands of terrorists.
When asked, senior research fellow of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and small-arm expert Neila Husain said, “Licensed arms are often rented out or sold out to terrorists.
“If the arms become traceless, it could be for faulty tracing mechanism that poses a serious threat to the country as well as to public security,” she said.
But regular tracking and modernizing the tracking mechanisms would be useful, she recommended. “However, political will and strong legal system is also a major issue to ponder over,” Husain said.
BDST 1830 HRS, JULY 11, 2010
