Home Affairs Adviser Lieutenant General (Retd) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury has announced a bounty for information leading to the recovery of firearms looted after August 5 last year, aiming to recover all missing weapons before the 13th parliamentary election scheduled for next February.

“We are offering Tk 5 lakh for information that leads to the recovery of one light machine gun (LMG) and Tk 1.5 lakh for one submachine gun (SMG),” he said.

He made the announcement on Monday after coming out of the core committee meeting on law and order at the Home Ministry in Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka.

The Home Adviser also said that Tk 50,000 will be given for recovering one pistol or one shotgun, and Tk 500 for helping recover one looted bullet.

According to Police Headquarters, a total of 5,750 firearms and 651,609 rounds of ammunition were looted from various police stations, outposts, and other installations after the fall of the Awami League government during the July Mass Uprising. The seized arms and ammunition include rifles, submachine guns (SMGs), light machine guns (LMGs), pistols, shotguns, gas guns, tear gas launchers, tear gas shells, tear gas sprays, sound grenades, and bullets.

A nationwide joint operation to recover the looted firearms and ammunition began on September 4 last year. The Home Adviser said that around 700 firearms are still missing and that the authorities will do their best to recover all looted weapons before the upcoming national election.

He reiterated that the next election will be free, fair, peaceful, and festive with the cooperation of all. “We can hold a fair and peaceful election with the help of everyone,” he said. Jahangir added that the nation expects a festive election. “We’re trying our best to hold the next election in a festive manner,” he said. He emphasised that when people and political parties remain election-focused, no one can stop the electoral process.

On police recruitment, the Home Adviser said the process has been conducted fairly, without any trades or irregularities. He urged journalists to report any corruption in recruitment but requested that reports be truthful, as it is impossible to restore a person’s reputation once false allegations are published.

He also said that the interim government has recruited 15,851 police personnel—from constables to sub-inspectors (SIs)—since coming to power. In addition, 4,469 soldiers have been recruited to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), and 5,551 sepoys to Bangladesh Ansar and VDP over the past year. The newly recruited police and Ansar personnel are expected to play a significant role in ensuring smooth elections.