CMP announces anti-arms drive before elections

CHATTOGRAM, Dec 24: The Election Commission (EC) has directed law enforcement agencies to recover illegal weapons and prepare a list of terrorists before the 12th parliamentary elections on January 7, 2024.

Following these directives, the Chattogram Metropolitan Police (CMP) headquarters has sent a letter to Officers in Charge (OCs) of all 16 police stations in the port city.

According to CMP's Special Branch, some 6,512 firearms licences have been issued in Chattogram division. These include pistols, revolvers, single-barreled and double-barreled guns, shotguns and rifles.

"Directives have already been sent to licence holders to surrender their weapons," said CMP Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operations) AS M Mahtab Uddin.

"Besides, we have received some illegal firearms during our special operations," he said.

Superintendent of Police SM Shafiullah said police raids are ongoing to recover illegal weapons. Some 15 guns have been recovered from different locations in Chattogram district in the past week.

All licence holders must surrender their legal weapons to their respective police stations before the elections. Meanwhile, the deadline for renewing firearms licenses has been extended to February 28, 2024.

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