Bangladesh police to no longer carry lethal weapons

Home advisor says only the armed forces will carry weapons that can kill

The interim government has decided to remove lethal weapons from the police force, which has faced an image crisis due to the indiscriminate use of arms during the July-August protests.

The decision came on Monday during the ninth meeting of the Law and Order Advisory Council Committee at the Secretariat, according to Home Advisor Jahangir Alam Chowdhury.

After the meeting, he said: “Police will no longer be allowed to carry any lethal weapons. These must be returned.

But the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) will retain its weapons, he added.

Jahangir noted that the implementation of this decision would take some time.

The meeting also discussed the restructuring of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), the elite anti-crime force.

“We have formed a five-strong committee to determine how RAB will be reorganised — whether the name, uniform or even the force itself will remain, and how it will be structured,” he said.

Later, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) chief Maj Gen Md Ashrafuzzaman Siddiqui said that India’s Border Security Force (BSF) had pushed 202 people into Bangladesh over the past few days, five of whom are Indian nationals.

“These matters have been communicated to their foreign ministry through ours,” he said.

The BGB chief added that attempts to send people across the border into Bangladesh are “still under way”.