MORE than a thousand — 1,375 to be precise — of the 5,753 firearms that were looted during the August 2024 political changeover having still not been traced is said to have exposed law and order to a threat of worsening. Official data show that the police are yet to recover 2,57,849 ammunition of the 6,12,982 of various types that were looted that time. The government began a joint operation on September 4, 2024 — about a month after the political changeover, which had an interim government installed on August 8 after the overthrow of the Awami League regime on August 5 in a mass uprising — to recover looted weapons and ammunition. The government has so far been able to recover 76.09 per cent of the weapons and 57.93 per cent of the ammunition looted. The firearms yet to be recovered include, as an April 20 police update says, 115 rifles, 30 submachine guns and 405 shotguns. Besides, as the prisons directorate has earlier said, 28 of the 94 firearms that were looted during jailbreaks around the 2024 political changeover have so far been recovered, with 70.21 per cent of the weapons having still not been traced.
This has become a cause for concern as police officials fear that the looted weapons have fallen into criminal hands and they may have already been used in criminal activities such as murder, mugging and robbery outside the capital. Police statistics show that 131 cases were filed under the Arms Act in March and the number was 101 in February; 171 robbery cases were filed in March and the number was 153 the month before; 74 cases of dacoity were filed in March and the number was 60 in February; 16 cases of riot were reported in March and the number was 10 in the month before. There has also been a surge in political violence. Thirty-six died in political violence in January and March, with 20 them having happened only in March and eight each in February and January, rights group Ain O Salish Kendra data update on April 22 shows. With a growing number of political violence, dacoity, robbery, riots and theft in recent times, the looted weapons and ammunition still untraced have only added to the fears for increased criminal activities. Added to the concern is the failure of the government to arrest at least 700 of all the prisoners having fled during jailbreaks around the 2024 political changeover who are feared on the prowl.
The recovery of the looted weapons and ammunition and the arrest of the jailbreakers should, therefore, be a priority agenda of the government in keeping law and order at a troubled time.
