The government will launch a joint operation from September 4 for recovering the firearms and ammunition not deposited in the police station under suspended license and arms looted in recent times from police stations, police lines, police outposts and other places.
The public security divisions of the Home Ministry issued a circular in this regard on Sunday and ordered to take the following steps to conduct the joint operation:
(a) Notifying concerned licensees through SMS of suspension of licenses and deposit of arms and ammunition used in favor of suspended licenses to the police station by September 3, 2024 after preparing a list of suspended licenses on August 25, 2024;
(b) Suspension of the said license and submission of the relevant arms and ammunition to the Police Station and from September 04, 2024 conducting operations to recover illegal arms and taking legal action including filing cases under the Arms Act against illegal arms holders/custodians through the District Information Office;
(c) The District Magistrates will hold a core committee meeting on September 2, 2024 consisting of the Superintendent of Police, representatives of the armed forces and intelligence agencies and other members. The meeting will review the list of suspended licenses. From Sept 4, the armed forces, BGB, Coast Guard, Police, RAB, Ansar will form a joint operation team and take necessary measures to conduct the weapons recovery operation;
(d) Police commissioners in the metropolitan area with the help of all concerned forces and intelligence agencies will take necessary measures to conduct a joint operation to recover weapons from September 4, 2024.
(e) The list of suspended license holders prepared by the District Magistrates and the list of arms license holders deposited till the due date shall be forwarded to this department by September 5.
Earlier on August 25, the Ministry of Home Affairs suspended firearms licenses given to civilians over the past 15 years issued during the tenure of the Awami League government.