A pistol used to fire indiscriminately at police during an operation involving Chattogram-based criminal Mobarak Hossain, also known as ‘Golakata Mobarak’, has been identified as a firearm looted from a police station during the unrest of 5 August 2024.
The pistol was reportedly taken from Kotwali Police Station in Chattogram on the day the Awami League government fell. Following his arrest, Mobarak told police during preliminary questioning that he had obtained the weapon through another criminal. Investigators, however, suspect that he may himself have been involved in looting firearms from the station that day.
The incident has renewed concerns over firearms that went missing from police stations and other law-enforcement facilities during the violence. Although a large proportion of the looted weapons and ammunition have subsequently been recovered, authorities believe that some firearms remain in the possession of organised criminals.
According to law-enforcement sources, many people who took firearms or ammunition from police facilities during the unrest later returned them following government appeals and announcements of rewards. In several cases, weapons were also recovered after being abandoned.
The weapons that have not yet been recovered are considered particularly concerning because of the possibility that they could be used in criminal activities or further disrupt public security. Authorities are therefore seeking to trace the remaining firearms and establish who currently controls them.
Fresh efforts to recover missing firearms
Sources at the Home Ministry said fresh measures have been taken to recover weapons and ammunition looted during the violence. Police and other relevant agencies have been given instructions to intensify efforts to locate the missing firearms.
A special unit, working in coordination with intelligence agencies, is also involved in the recovery drive. Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed has announced rewards for information leading to the recovery of the weapons.
The authorities are particularly concerned about firearms that may have moved from one criminal group to another since they were taken from police facilities. The recovery of the pistol from Mobarak illustrates how a firearm originally belonging to the police can eventually resurface in the hands of a suspected criminal.
More than 5,000 firearms were looted
Police Headquarters data show the scale of the losses during the violence on 5 August 2024. A total of 460 police establishments were attacked, set on fire or looted that day.
Of these, 114 police stations were vandalised and 56 were set on fire. Police vehicles were also heavily affected, with 1,024 vehicles of different types damaged during the unrest.
The attacks resulted in the looting of 5,073 firearms and 652,000 rounds of ammunition from police establishments, according to police data. The weapons included 14 firearms belonging to the police and Ansar forces that had been looted from a bank in Bandarban during an attack in April 2024.
The scale of the losses means that recovering the remaining weapons remains a significant law-enforcement challenge. Every firearm that remains unaccounted for represents a potential source of danger if it falls into the hands of criminals.
The case involving Mobarak has also raised questions about the movement of looted weapons after the August violence. Police are investigating how the Kotwali Police Station pistol reached him and whether he was directly involved in taking it from the station.
While most of the weapons and ammunition looted during the unrest have been recovered, the firearms still missing continue to draw the attention of law-enforcement agencies. The authorities are now seeking to strengthen intelligence-led operations to locate them before they are used in further criminal activity.
