Provide information on arms, reward will be given without legal hassle: SRB

Special Response Battalion (SRB) has called upon the general public to provide information on looted and illegal arms scattered across various places of the country. The force has informed that if information is given about the location of arms, the informant will be rewarded according to government rules without putting them into any kind of legal complications.

Wing Commander MZM Inteqab Chowdhury, director of the legal and media wing of the force, said this while responding to journalists’ questions at the SRB media centre in Karwan Bazar of the capital on Friday afternoon (September 18).

He said special operations are under way from the government and SRB to recover looted arms scattered in various places of the country. A large number of arms have already been recovered in various operations by Bangladesh Police, the army and SRB. Information is now needed from the general public to further intensify the recovery activities.

Inteqab Chowdhury said they have some primary information about the location of illegal arms in various areas of the country including Khulna, Rajshahi and Chattogram. However, it is becoming difficult to identify and recover them in many cases due to lack of sufficient information. He therefore called for informing law enforcement agencies if anyone has any information about the location of arms.

He said a person may have taken arms from a police station during some incident, but may not have any ill intention. Situations may also arise where someone does not understand what to do now after taking arms due to the circumstances or on the spur of the moment. Again, many are afraid to provide information fearing facing legal process if they inform someone. The initiative to provide information has been taken to resolve this problem.

This SRB official said it will be enough if the arms are left in any place and only their location is informed to the law enforcement agencies. As an example he said if information is received that two pistols, one rifle, several magazines or bullets are kept in some place, members of the force will go there and recover the arms. He also informed that the informant will be rewarded according to government rules and will not have to face any legal complications.

Regarding the crime situation in Mohammadpur, Inteqab Chowdhury said reducing criminal tendency is an ongoing process. It is not possible to completely change the situation of an area overnight. However, strong activities are being conducted from SRB’s side in areas where the tendency of crime is higher.

He said the number of members of SRB battalions is being increased in crime-prone areas. The number of officers for conducting operations has been increased, intelligence activities have been intensified and cyber surveillance has been enhanced. All possible steps are being taken from the side of the law enforcement agencies.

Expressing optimism about controlling the crime situation in Mohammadpur, this SRB official said the law enforcement agencies will have to be cooperated with by waiting a few more days. Calling for cooperation with all relevant forces including the police, he said they hope to be able to eradicate crime from Mohammadpur very soon.