Bangladesh offers reward for stolen guns before polls

DHAKA: Bangladesh announced on Wednesday cash rewards to surrender machine guns, rifles and pistols looted during an uprising last year, hoping to collect hundreds of weapons ahead of key elections.

An estimated 6,000 firearms were stolen from police armouries during the deadly August 2024 unrest that toppled the rule of then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina.

More than 1,300 are still reported as missing, police spokesman AHM Shahadat Hossaine told AFP.

Police issued a list of rewards for their return, ranging from just over $4,000 for a light machine gun to $800 for an assault rifle, and $400 for a shotgun or pistol. Cash would also be paid for ammunition.

“Bangladesh Police guarantee full confidentiality”, Hossaine said, urging people to hand them in.

Bangladesh has been in political turmoil since Hasina fled into exile last year, and political parties are jostling for power ahead of polls slated for February 2026.

Dhaka-based rights group Odhikar says political violence since the uprising has killed nearly 300 people.

More than 150 others have been killed in mob violence, according to Odhikar.

Investigators meanwhile continue to probe a devastating fire that tore through the cargo complex of the country’s main international airport on October 18.

Bushra Islam, a senior official at Biman Bangladesh Airlines, told AFP that a team had found the smashed lock of a vault which had survived the fire — a strongroom used to store arms, as well as valuable items such as gold and diamonds.

Islam said it was not clear “how many arms have gone missing, if any”.

A senior police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a team had inspected the vault after the fire.

“Days later, the vault was found open,” he said.

The government said it had requested foreign experts to help examine the cause of the blaze.