Firearms looted last 3 yrs yet to be recovered

JESSORE, Jan 7: Some 63 firearms looted mostly from law enforcers by miscreants in southwestern districts of the country in last three years could not be recovered, reports UNB.

According to competent sources, 22 firearms went missing from police, 34 from Ansar and seven from gun shops during the period.

They said 15 of the firearms, including one LMG, 30 rifles, five guns, 27 pistols and revolvers, were looted in 1997 while 29 in 1998 and 19 in 1999.

The district-wise breakup of the missing firearms: Jessore - 20, Jhenidah - 8, Khulna - 31 and Bagerhat - 5.

The major arms robbery took place in September 4, 1998 when 21 guns, rifles and pistols were looted from malkhaha (store) of Khulna Metropolitan Police.

In 1999, six arms and one rifle were looted from a gun shop, Hamid and Company, in the downtown of Jessore on the night of December 17. Twelve rifles were snatched from on-duty Ansars near Akis Jute Mills in Noapara on January 19, 1999.

In August 1997, armed assailants swooped on an express train in Jhenidah and looted one LMG and seven rifles, leaving an Ansar commander dead and a businessman and one police officer injured.