In the absence of proper monitoring, use of legally licensed firearms in criminal activities, such as mugging, robbery and even murders, has become a headache for the authorities.
There are also reports that some of these legal firearms are being given out on rent by their owners.
According to Home Ministry sources, there are nearly 217,000 legal firearms of various types in the country right now, all licensed under the Arms Act 1878. In the last five years, the government has awarded 10 firearm licenses of various types.
Alarmingly, the ministry does not have any comprehensive database of these firearms and hence there has been very little monitoring activities.
Even other law enforcement agencies like RAB and district administration offices have very little information on these firearms.
A classified statistic shows that the Home Ministry has received more than 3,500 complaints in the last five years in connection with the use of legal firearms in carrying out criminal activities. During the same period, law enforcers have filed more than 500 cases in the same connection.
In addition, over this five years, a total of 156 licences have been cancelled and there have been recommendations from various law enforcement agencies to revoke the licences of 318 other firearms.
Instances
In October, ruling party lawmaker Manzurul Islam Liton shot a child with his licensed firearm during a programme at Gaibandha.
In April, Roni, son of another ruling party MP Pinu Khan, shot a rickshawpuller dead in Dhaka. He did that with his licensed firearm.
Two years ago, the investigators of Milki murder case found out that the prime accused had a licensed firearm. Interestingly, the family members of both the victim and the accused had six firearm licences among them.
Requesting anonymity, a high official of an intelligence agency said: “The biggest example is Narayanganj seven murder. Prime accused Nur Hossain and his associates had nine licensed firearms among them,” he said.
Rules
Existing rules suggest that anybody with police clearance and above a certain age can posses licensed firearms by agreeing to pay an annual tax starting Tk2 lakh.
For legally having a shotgun, the applicant must be at least 25 years old. The floor age for having revolvers, pistols and rifles is 30.
Another criteria allows a person to own a shotgun and pistol at a time, but not a shotgun and a rifle. There are also restrictions depending on the calibre of firearms.
However, the alarming thing is that the authorities often show negligence while awarding firearms licences.
Nasir Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh Arms Traders Association, said: “In many cases we have seen authorities ignore law in awarding firearm licences. For example, sometimes licences are given without properly checking tax certification.”
Recently, with the municipality polls due in a few days, police headquarters and the Home Ministry have directed district-level law enforcers to recover illegal arms and check the statuses of legal arms.
