Police have recovered 27 live shotgun cartridges, 13 tear-gas shells and seven sound grenades believed to have been looted from Faridpur Kotwali Police Station during the unrest of 5 August 2024.
The ammunition was found abandoned inside an old semi-pucca building near an agricultural centre in Kanaipur Union, Faridpur Sadar, during an operation conducted by members of Special Response Battalion-10 (SRB), Faridpur Camp.
The operation was carried out at around 3.45am on Wednesday following confidential information received by the security authorities. Acting on the information, an SRB team searched the old building and found the ammunition abandoned inside.
Tapan Sarker, Assistant Superintendent of Police at the SRB Faridpur Camp, confirmed the recovery. He said the operation resulted in the seizure of 27 rounds of live shotgun ammunition, 13 tear-gas shells and seven sound grenades.
According to the SRB, the recovered items had originally been looted from Faridpur Kotwali Police Station on 5 August 2024, when attacks and unrest were reported at police stations in different parts of the country during the July uprising.
During that period, several police facilities came under attack, with weapons and ammunition taken from some stations. The loss of police firearms and other security equipment subsequently raised concerns about the possibility of such materials being used in criminal or violent activities.
Sarker said the latest recovery was made after the SRB received information about the presence of the ammunition at the abandoned building in Kanaipur. Officers then carried out a search of the premises and recovered the items without finding anyone there.
The circumstances surrounding how the ammunition reached the building remain unclear. No individual was reported to have been arrested during the operation, and the authorities have not identified anyone as being responsible for leaving the items at the site.
The recovery is significant because the items include live shotgun cartridges as well as crowd-control equipment used by law-enforcement agencies. Tear-gas shells are generally used to disperse crowds, while sound grenades are designed to create a loud blast and can be deployed during security operations. Their presence outside authorised custody can therefore create a public-safety concern.
The authorities are expected to examine the recovered materials as part of efforts to establish their origin and circumstances surrounding their disappearance from police custody. The findings could also help determine whether the items remained in the area after the 2024 incidents or had subsequently been moved to the abandoned building.
The events of 5 August 2024 resulted in widespread disruption to law enforcement operations in several parts of Bangladesh. The subsequent recovery of weapons and ammunition from different locations has remained an issue for security agencies, particularly because of concerns that missing police equipment could fall into the hands of criminals.
In the Faridpur operation, the SRB has so far confirmed the recovery of the 27 shotgun cartridges, 13 tear-gas shells and seven sound grenades. Further details about the people who may have transported or stored the items were not immediately available.
Officials said the operation was conducted on the basis of confidential intelligence, highlighting the continuing efforts by law-enforcement agencies to trace police equipment that went missing during the disturbances. The recovered ammunition will now remain subject to the relevant investigative and security procedures.
