Bangladesh offers reward for stolen guns before polls

Bangladesh announced connected Wednesday (November 5, 2025) currency rewards to surrender instrumentality guns, rifles and pistols looted during an uprising past year, hoping to cod hundreds of weapons up of cardinal elections.

An estimated 6,000 firearms were stolen from constabulary armouries during the deadly August 2024 unrest that toppled the hardline regularisation of then-Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

More than 1,300 are inactive reported arsenic missing, constabulary spokesperson AHM Shahadat Hossaine told AFP.

Police issued a database of rewards for their return, ranging from conscionable implicit $4,000 for a airy instrumentality weapon to $800 for an battle rifle, and $400 for a shotgun oregon pistol. Cash would besides beryllium paid for ammunition.

“Bangladesh Police warrant afloat confidentiality”, Mr. Hossaine said, urging radical to manus them in.

Bangladesh has been successful governmental turmoil since Hasina fled into exile past year, and governmental parties are jostling for powerfulness up of polls slated for February 2026.

Dhaka-based rights radical Odhikar says governmental unit since the uprising has killed astir 300 people.

More than 150 others person been killed successful mob violence, according to Odhikar.

Investigators, meanwhile, proceed to probe a devastating occurrence that tore done the cargo analyzable of the country’s main planetary airdrome connected October 18.

Bushra Islam, a elder authoritative astatine Biman Bangladesh Airlines, told AFP that a squad had recovered the smashed fastener of a vault which had survived the occurrence — a strongroom utilized to store arms, arsenic good arsenic invaluable items specified arsenic golden and diamonds.

Islam said it was not wide “how galore arms person gone missing, if any”.

A elder constabulary officer, speaking connected information of anonymity, said a squad had inspected the vault aft the fire.

“Days later, the vault was recovered open,” helium said.

The authorities said it had requested overseas experts to assistance analyse the origin of the blaze.