Tk 10,000 to Tk 200,000 reward for information on looted weapons: Home Minister

Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has said that a special unit has been formed to recover looted and illegal weapons across the country. He also announced that anyone providing information that helps recover such weapons will be rewarded with between Tk 10,000 and Tk 200,000. The minister also said the security of informants would be ensured.

The home minister made the announcement at a briefing outside the police auditorium in Rajarbagh, Dhaka, on Saturday afternoon. Earlier, he had addressed the quarterly crime review meeting of the police as the chief guest.

Senior Secretary to the Ministry of Home Affairs Manzur Morshed Chowdhury, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ali Hossain Fakir and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Mosleh Uddin Ahmed were present at the briefing.

Salahuddin Ahmed said, “Today, I would like to make an announcement regarding the recovery of looted weapons. This was an earlier directive. We have formed a special unit to recover illegal weapons. They have already started working with intelligence support from various agencies. We have advised them to step up their efforts further.”

“We have announced some rewards in this regard. Those who help or provide information leading to the recovery of heavy weapons will receive a reward of up to Tk 200,000. Those who provide information leading to the recovery of pistols, revolvers and shotguns will receive up to Tk 50,000. Apart from these, those who help or provide information leading to the recovery of sound grenades, looted tear-gas shells and other weapons will receive rewards of Tk 10,000, Tk 15,000 or Tk 20,000, depending on the case,” the home minister further said.

The minister said operations were underway across the country to recover illegal and looted weapons. He added that special drives would also be conducted to crack down on drug trafficking, terrorism, and extortion.

In response to a question, the home minister said that cases had already been filed against people whose firearm licences had been cancelled at various times but who had failed to surrender their weapons within the stipulated deadline. “These are also illegal weapons. These will also be recovered,” he said.

Asked how weapons that had already crossed the border into other countries would be recovered, the home minister said, “If weapons cross into another country, our police cannot go and conduct operations there. We will recover the weapons that we find inside the country.”