Let’s look back at the incident took place at 7pm on March 1. The location was Swarnali Tower in 51/5 Pashchim Matikata area of the capital. There was a sound of gunshot and the local people got seriously frightened over the matter. A few moments later, a whistling police car came to the spot and the police captured a man named Aslam with foreign arms and 3 rounds of bullets with the help of local people.
According to the local residents, two groups led by Hitlu and Jahangir involved in conflict over showing dominance in the locality and money extortion activities and sometimes there are chase and counter chase among the members of two gangs. However, the officer-in-charge (OC) Shahinur Rahman said, “These people works as hired terrorists. They are usually active in Bhasantek area of the city. We’ve arrested Aslam and Jahangir and continuing raids to arrest Hitlu as well.”
In the early morning of March 10, in Sabuj Bagh area of the capital, a truck driver named Alam, 48m, was shot in the leg by terrorists. Alam said “There is a dispute between two groups of terrorists in the area. A group shot me when I went to dump soil in the truck. At this time they told me to leave the area quickly and threatended to shoot me if I’m late. But they didn't even give me time to go safely. In the meantime they shot me.”
Although only two incidents are mentioned above, such incidents are happening regularly in the country including the capital in recent times. The occasional gunshot has become routine work. Common people are suffering from insecurity. Many are afraid to file a police complaint against the gunmen. Law enforcement agencies are aware of the masterminds behind the weapons, sources said. However, it is not possible to pull the reins as many of them are involved with the ruling party. Apart from this, the issue of making advanced technology weapons in the country is making the intelligence officers worried.
On March 4, a student named Arafat Amin was shot in the leg by Raihan Sharif, a teacher of Shaheed M Mansoor Ali Medical College in Sirajganj. This image of the education system is forcing the authorities to think again. Police say that so far two foreign pistols, 81 bullets, four magazines and other equipment have been seized from the arrested teacher. Two cases have been filed in the concerned police station in this incident.
According to crime analysts, if criminals are not regarded as criminals, the situation will never change. Law enforcement agencies know every detail of how illegal weapons are getting to terrorists but are not taking proper measures to prevent them. On the contrary, social unrest will increase. There will be adverse effects on the family and even the state.
On March 12, RAB officials were shocked by the information about the pistol recovered from two persons arrested from Badda in the capital. One by one, the weapons maker was arrested. A total of six people were held including Mokhleshur Rahman Sagar. Weapons making equipment including four pistols, four rounds of cartridges were recovered from them. Also seized were seven wooden formas used in making pistols, 10 firing mechanisms, four triggers, two pistol handgrips, two drill bits, 5 sands, 50 springs, 40 pistol nut bolts, 2 compasses, 3 gauges, 4 clams, 2 drill machines, 2 bice, 1 Barney Scale, 1 Mugur, 4 Clams, 20 Hesco Frames, 2 Gold LS Flames, 1 Tool Box, 1 Garender Machine, 1 Wood Supply, 1 Hammer, 4 Sheets of Shirish Paper.
Additional DIG Farid Uddin, the captain of RAB-10, said the owner of the illegal arms dealers gang Mokhleshur Rahman Sagar and Md. Tanveer Ahmed were the arms maker. Among them Md. Mokhleshur Rahman Sagar is the owner of the illegal arms manufacturing and arms dealer gang. Sagar came to the country and started making illegal weapons with the hope of becoming a millionaire in a short time. Then, they plan to deliver arms in exchange of a hefty sum of money. As part of this, he initially formed a syndicate with Tanveer, Anik and Saikat to manufacture and supply weapons.
He further said that the arrested Tanvi is a laser CNC designer by profession. Being a laser CNC designer, he can do any computer (2U) cutting according to the design very accurately. Tanveer worked as a chief collaborator in the manufacture of various weapon parts as per designs given by Sagar. They used to sell each pistol/weapon for Tk 3 lakh. Those concerned say that illegal weapons are being used openly and covertly in areas of dominance, political disputes, extortion, drug trade and other criminal activities. It is feared that the use of illegal weapons may increase if the gunmen are not arrested. Concerns over the matter were also expressed in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Law and Order. The law and order forces authority were directed to carry out a coordinated operation to recover the weapons. But the situation did not improve much.
Additional Inspector General of Police Headquarters, Anwar Hossain told The Bangladesh Pratidin, “In fact, the recovery of illegal weapons is a routine work of the police. So, the police always pay special attention to this issue.”
It is known that more than 7,500 illegal weapons have been recovered in the operation of RAB, Police and BGB in the last 13 months. Most of them are firearms. This information is known from the statistics of law and order forces in various incidents related to illegal weapons in the last one year. In 2023, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) recovered 108 firearms, thousands of bullets and huge explosives last year by raiding various places including the border of the country. At this time, various types of smuggled goods including drugs worth Tk 2, 288, 66, 07000 have been seized. BGB has arrested 2, 367 people on charges related to these arms. RAB seized 581 illegal weapons from across the country in 2023. At this time, 266 people were arrested. However, several phone calls and text messages were sent to the media wing of the police headquarters asking for statistics on the illegal arms recovery, but they were not provided.
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on March 16 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque Khan)
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