Home adviser comments on firearm ‘magazine’ found in adviser Asif’s bag

Home affairs adviser Lt. Gen. (retd.) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury has answered various questions from newspersons on the incident of a firearm magazine being discovered in the bag of interim government’s another adviser, Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, during security screening at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

In response to a question in this regard, during a press briefing held after a meeting of the Core Committee on Law and Order at the Ministry of Home Affairs today, Monday, the home adviser said, “It might be just a mistake.”

Asif Mahmud left the country for Morocco in a flight from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport early on Sunday to attend the ‘OIC Youth Capital International Programme’ scheduled to be held in Marrakesh, Morocco.

During routine baggage scanning, a firearm magazine was detected inside his bag.

Referring to this incident the newspersons asked the home adviser, how does he view the incident of carrying a firearm magazine in the bag while travelling abroad?

In response, Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said, “It has nothing to do with travelling abroad. Sometimes you make mistakes, perhaps you meant to bring your glasses, but mistakenly took your mobile phone instead. It’s just a mistake like that. Since the issue has turned into a talk-of-the-town, I believe he never would have carried it if he had realised it earlier.”

When journalists raised questions about the validity of the home adviser’s statement that adviser Asif Mahmud did this mistakenly, the adviser responded, “Well, I haven’t spoken to him directly. But you can easily understand how it is if you know. I mean, it’s unlikely for him to go there carrying weapons. Suppose, a bullet is found in your pocket, then it becomes clear that you went there by mistake.”

Some sources have described the magazine found in adviser Asif Mahmud’s bag to belong to the well-known firearm, AK-47.

Speaking on this point the adviser said, “No, it isn’t from an AK-47. It belongs to a licensed weapon registered to himself (adviser Asif Mahmud). It was just a pistol magazine that he had left in the bag by an honest mistake.”

According to the Firearms Licensing, Renewal and Use Policy-2016, an individual must be aged between 30 and 70 years to apply for licensing a firearm in Bangladesh.

Speaking about the ongoing speculations regarding Asif Mahmud’s age, the home adviser said, “Is there really an age limit of 30 for a legal licence? Since I haven’t reviewed that specific law thoroughly, I cannot say anything on this issue.”

The newspersons also raised the issue of how the magazine in adviser Asif Mahmud’s bag passed through the first two levels of airport security and was only detected at the third checkpoint.

In reply to the question why wasn’t it detected at the first entrance, the home adviser stated, “As I said already, sometimes - for example- when a political leader enters the airport he may receive some privileges than usual. It has been emphasised that such privileges should not apply to anyone. The law should be enforced equally for everyone.”