The illegal use of legally procured arms seems to be not put down under control. The owners of legal arms are using it to defeat the opposition. The ordinary people are getting frightened for their free shooting.

However, they can’t protest them as these arms-owners are very influential and the law-enforcing agencies are showing apathy to take action against them.

According to the crime experts, these incidents are occurring due to lack of accountability. If the authorities concerned used to monitor the matter regularly, then the incidents might not happen. It’s necessary to manage this sensitive business properly.

How the dealers will conduct their arms business is clearly stated in ‘Fire Arms License, Renew and Usage Act 2016.’ In the law, it has been stated that the district magistrate, police authority will inspect physically the arms, ammunition and transactions of arms with an interval of six months and send the report to home ministry.

In the investigation it has been found that the CTTC arrested Md Hossain with five arms and 301 rounds of bullets from Jatrabari in the capital, Lal Ton Pangkhoya from Rangamati, and two apprentice of Hossain named Ali Akbar and Adilur Rahman on Cotober 30, 2021. CTTC confirmed that after being imprisoned for many days, Md Hossain was freed on bail last week. But, the arms shop wasn’t closed even after the detention of Md Hossain. The same thing happened to many arms dealers who were arrested or became fugitive in last 10 years, which was clear violation of law. Among them there are: Shahabuddin Khan, the owner of Khan Arms Store in Mymensingh, Nazrul Islam Sohel, the pwner of K arms in Rajshahi, Subodh Dube, the owner of SAlbert Arms Store in Khulna, Hazi Shahbuddin of Bagerhat, Habib Hossain, owner of Khaja arms and Sons in Bogura, Bashar beg, owner of Beg Arms in Chuadanga, and the owner of Imran Arms & Co. in Dhaka.

On July 11, 2017, Imran Arms and Company located in Paltan, Dhaka brought 58 firearms from Italy in one shipment. However, experts from various intelligence agencies examined the weapons and found that 21 weapons were old and fabricated. Most of these weapons have different printed unique numbers engraved on different parts of the body. The importing company could not produce valid documents for these 21 weapons. Among these firearms, 16 are of Walther PP and 5 are of HK4 brands.

On June 15, 2018, the owner of M/s Netrokona Arms Co., Mohammad Ali Babul alias Babul Mia was arrested with two illegal weapons and 125 rounds of ammunition by a team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime (CTTC) Unit. Later, based on the information given by him, eight more firearms and 1,060 rounds of ammunition were seized from under the floor of his house in Churkhai village of Mymensingh.

The investigators said that apart from Mymensingh, information was found about his illegal arms trade with some legitimate firearms dealers in Rajshahi, Chittagong and Khulna. The owners of those arms shops have been made accused in the case on the basis of evidence. One of the main buyers of his arms were the bandits of the southern Sundarbans. But surprisingly, despite having a valid license, Netrakona Arms did not have any valid arms in stock. Even the their reserves of arms was nor registered according to arms law. Till 2017, Netrakona Arms' monthly report submitted to the District Magistrate and Police authorities contained a single sentence - 'There is only one broken double gun in the shop'. It is known that earlier the government organization Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) used to import arms and ammunition. In the early 1990s, traders themselves started importing arms and ammunition. But for a long time there has been little initiative for monitoring such a sensitive sector of the arms trade.

According to the Bangladesh Arms Dealers and Importers Association (BADIA), there are currently 84 legitimate arms dealers in the country. All of them are members of this organization. These include one in Chuadanga, two in Rangpur, one in Kushtia, one in Barguna, one in Barisal, three in Bogra, one in Chapainawabganj, three in Mymensingh, one in Pabna, three in Jessore, two in Rajshahi, eleven in Chittagong, two in Satkhira, one in Cumilla, one in Bagerhat, Dinajpur and Moulvibazar and three in Khulna. The rest are located in the capital Dhaka.

Nasir Ahmed, president of BADIA, told The Bangladesh Pratidin, "Arms dealers are respected in most countries of the world. They’ve also been getting valued in our country for some time. But some individuals, who have pushed the arms trade into controversy, have been expelled from the organization. We will request that none of us should keep any kind of business relationship with them.”  

According to the authorities concerned, about 190 thousand and 312 weapons have been registered across the country. However, as of April 3, police headquarters, special branches of the police, SB and CID have updated information over only 48,988 individuals, institutions and financial institutions having weapons. Among them, 14, 516 in Dhaka division, 6, 353 in Chittagong division, 8, 073 in Rajshahi division, 7, 093 in Khulna division, 4,701 in Sylhet division, 2, 675 in Barisal, 3, 462 in Rangpur and 2 thousand 115 in Mymensingh division.

According to DMP statistics, in 2022, DMP arrested 410 people over cases related to arms and ammunition. They’ve recovered 65 firearms, 262 rounds of bullets and 4, 268 kg of explosives.

Superintendent of Police of Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU), Chanwar Hossain told The Bangladesh Pratidin, "As far as I know, a digital database for weapons has been initiated by the Ministry of Home Affairs. If that is the case, it is possible to get all the information of arms dealers, arms license instantly. Through this, monitoring this sensitive issue will be very easy for everyone.”

Illegal use: Police arrested Kamrul Hasan Sajoy (27) on the charge of illegally displaying his father's licensed weapon in front of Puaro Muktmanch of Faridpur Upazila in Pabna on March 2 this year. The licensed pistol was also seized at that time. The boy's father Kamruzzaman Majed is the mayor of Faridpur municipality.

On November 20, 2021, Md  Ashru killed his brother-in-law Farooq Ahmed with a weapon licensed by his freedom fighter father in Mirpur of the capital.

On November 17, 2022, 20 to 25 armed men attacked a man named Habibur Rahman Hasu in Rayerbazar, Dhanmondi in broad daylight due to a land dispute. Among them, three brothers named Nasim, Mahbub and Salim Rahman, residents of Madhubazar area of Dhanmondi, had automatic rifles, shotguns and foreign pistols. But at one stage they left behind a shotgun while fleeing in the face of resistance from the crowd. Later, Mohammadpur police station confirmed that the three brothers had legal weapons.

On July 14, 2022, a group of terrorists led by alleged Jubo League leader Moniruzzaman Jewel attacked Jubo League convener and chairman of Sreepur Union Parishad Shahjalal Majumder in Chouddagram of Comilla with sophisticated firearms. Chairman's driver Amjad Hossain was injured in the attack. A picture of Jewel standing with a weapon in one hand and a cigarette in the other caused a stir on social media. Police arrested Jewel in that incident.

Rules on Use of Weapons: The latest Firearms Licensing, Renewal and Use Rules, 2016, provides for the use of personal firearms only for self-defense purposes. However, the Act generally discourages the granting of firearms licenses at the individual level. There are certain rules regarding when a firearm owner can 'test fire' or test blank. Officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs say that 'test fire' cannot be done without the permission of the authorities. Newly purchased firearms can be 'test fired' by firearm owners in the presence of law enforcement officials.

Apart from this, those who go to renew the old weapons at the end of the year, according to the rules at the office of the Deputy Commissioner, a 'test fire' is done to prove the effectiveness of the weapon. Buying or collecting ammunition also requires the permission of the District Commissioner. The accounts of the bullets have to be informed to the concerned police station and the office of the District Commissioner. The annual limit or amount of ammunition collection is fixed in the license.

Also, the license should be in the name of the person who will use the firearm. For instance, if the owner is using, the license must be in his name. In any case, if the firearm is used by the bodyguard of the owner, then the license must be in the name of the bodyguard.

In addition, when a person owns a firearm, there are general rules to follow. A GD or (General Diary) should be filed immediately at the police station if the firearm is lost. If the owner goes out of the country, the concerned police station should be informed for the safety of the firearm. Firearms must be submitted to the local police before any election and there is a rule to renew firearms licenses after one year.

@The report was published in Bengali on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on May 10 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque