In the wake of the ongoing city corporation polls around the country and the national elections due in a few months’ time, illegal firearms have flooded every corner of the country.
Thanks to loose enforcement of law, these firearms, mostly smuggled across the border, are used unabated for political clashes, tender manipulation, extortion and street mugging.
Sources in law enforcement agencies have said political leaders, eyeing to flex muscles for political showdowns before the national elections, patronise the smuggling of these firearms.
Sources also said even a number factories have been set up inside the country to meet the high demand for firearms. The Rapid Action Battalion recently busted one such factory in Boalkhali in Chittagong district.
The flooding of firearms was a result of the fact that there have not been any major drives for a number of years to recover illegal arms.
The arms dealers and importers, if caught and sued, often easily manage to get freed by bribing the law enforcers because in most cases they are the only witnesses available.
The involvement of a group of unscrupulous police officials in the arms trade has also added to the already alarming scenario, sources said.
There are allegations that these officials secretly sell the arms recovered during various drives to the criminals for hefty payments.
Recently, a police constable was arrested from the Rajarbagh Police Lines in the capital while he was trying to secretly sell recovered arms.
Sources said the high-ranking police officials, who actually make huge sums of money, remain out of reach and only the low-ranking employees face the music.
According to sources in the intelligence wings of the law enforcement agencies, criminals these days rely heavily on technologically advanced automatic firearms because they are light, easy to use and could be easily carried.
These arms, mainly made in the UK, Belgium, France, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Bulgaria, South Korea, Pakistan, China and Germany, include small firearms and pistols, Chinese rifles, sten guns, machineguns, sub-machineguns, Kalashnikov or AK brand and M16 rifles.
Dhaka Tribune published a report in the past which stated that law enforcers have identified 60 different points on the country’s border through which these illegal arms enter Bangladesh, mainly from India.
Intelligence sources said these modern firearms are generally smuggled on ship along the common rivers that pass across the borders. When the arms consignments reach near the border, importers transport them on small boats, hiding the arms under fishes and other goods.
The price of these firearms vary with brand, quality and capacity. An AK-47 rifle generally sells for Tk300,000-Tk350,000, an American automatic pistol for Tk150,000-Tk200,000, 9mm bore pistol with magazine for Tk100,000-Tk200,000, Chinese rifle for Tk200,000, .22 bore pistols for Tk45,000, and so on.
These firearms are also available for rent for Tk4,000-Tk5,000.
Former inspector general (IG) of Police SM Shahjahan suggested that authorities need not only to find out through which points these arms enter the country, they also needed to make sure that the arms dealers, if arrested, are given exemplary punishments.
Alarmingly though, there has not been any major drive in the last five years.
The detective branch of police has recently come up with a list of 24 former and present mayors and chairmen of local governments who are involved with arms dealing.
Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told the Dhaka Tribune that the names in that list are now being verified.
When contacted, IGP Hassan Mahmood Khandker claimed that police have been regularly operating drives to recover illegal arms.
He said, although they are not operating any drives for the time being due to technical reasons, strict drives will be launched very soon.
