There is a sense of panic among common people in Dhaka as innumerable robberies have taken place in the capital recently. Only 50 victims have complained, so far, to the police station.
A significant portion of the firearms and ammunition looted from police establishments during the recent uprising is yet to be recovered, raising concerns about potential criminal activities and security threats.
As the night deepens, the control of the road goes into the hands of these criminals. There has been an increase in murders based on prior enmity, personal disputes and financial transactions. After the fall of the government on August 5, till August 30 there were 29 murders in the capital.
However, in September and October, more than two hundred bodies were recovered in various crimes and incidents in the capital.
Among them there are more than hundred murders. There were 56 murders in the three months from August to October last year.
Accordingly, 130 murders have occurred in the last three months. Crime experts blame looted weapons and ammunition from the police for the decline in law and order situation.
Detectives believe that a large portion of the weapons that have not yet been recovered have gone into the hands of the underworld across the country.
These arms and ammunition went to identified terrorist groups in Geneva Camp, Pallabi, Jatrabari, Badda, Kalabagan, Hazaribagh, Dhaka Udyan, Bosila, Adabar and Lalbagh areas of the capital through changing hands. Israeli-made Uzi pistols were also spotted at the Geneva camp in Mohammadpur.
It has been found that many of the top terrorists, tainted convicts and militant convicts who are in jail have left. Due to reduced police patrols at night, robberies have increased. After 10:00pm in the neighborhood-mahalla of the capital, if the atmosphere is a little quiet, the pedestrians fall under the grip of robbers.
After the fall of the Awami League government in the face of the mass upsurge spearheaded by students, law enforcement agencies were busy recovering their looted firearms and ammunition and arresting the accused in cases filed over the murders and attacks during the uprising.
Miscreants are taking away valuables from innocent people at gunpoint. Not only this, four people have lost their lives at the hands of robbers in the last three months while resisting robberies.
According to the Police Headquarters (PHQ), some 1,424 firearms and 257,690 pieces of ammunition could not be recovered, which is 25 per cent and 40 per cent of the total loot.
Some 5,696 firearms and 644,225 pieces of ammunition were looted from different police stations, outposts and offices during the mass uprising.
The firearms include 1,100 Chinese Rifles, 10 Rifles-T 8 (BD), 247 SMGs-T 56 (China), 32 LMGs-T 56 (China), 529 pistols-T 54 (China), 1,083 pistols (9.19 MM), 33 SMGs/SMTs, 2,058 shotguns, 586 gas guns, 15 teargas launchers and three signal pistols.
A total of 6,04,857 bullets, 31,806 teargas cells, 1,455 teargas grenades, 4,692 sound grenades, 290 coloured smoked grenades, 55 seven/multiple bang stun grenades, 893 flash bang /6 bang grenades and 177 handheld teargas sprays are among the looted ammunition.
However, 4,272 firearms and 386,535 pieces of ammunition have so far been recovered by law enforcers and armed forces.
During the joint drives, 297 firearms were recovered from September 4 to October 9 and 148 possessors were arrested, said the PHQ.
Sources said a portion of the looted firearms went to the hands of underworld criminals and drug traders. Underworld criminal Boga Kajol through his cohorts looted a big number of firearms from police stations.
Some of the arms were reportedly given to underworld criminals Mamun, Shamim, Killer Abbas, and Shahdat's cohorts, said the sources.
A high official of police HQ told The Daily Observer that that joint drives continue to recover the rest of the looted firearms and ammunition.
He expressed the hope that they will be able to recover those soon. The Special Branch (SB) of police has around 50,310 legal arms licence holders in its database. However, the officials are yet to ascertain how many licences were issued by the AL government.
