Firearms Stolen from Shahjalal Airport Strong Room : Police Investigating

Several firearms imported for law enforcement agencies have been stolen from a vault in the strongroom of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines, which is responsible for maintaining the vault, has not disclosed the exact type or quantity of the weapons missing.

Boshra Islam, general manager of Biman's public relations department, told The Daily Star that the airline's security department discovered the vault's lock broken on October 28. Following the discovery, Md Jamal Hossain, assistant manager (security) of Biman, filed a general diary (GD) with the Airport Police Station the same day.

Boshra said the stolen firearms had been imported for law enforcement agencies, but could not specify which agency or how many weapons were taken. She added that both the Airport Police Station and the Ministry of Civil Aviation are investigating the matter.

Taslima Akhter, officer-in-charge (OC) of Airport Police Station, confirmed that the GD mentioned the broken lock but did not specify the number of stolen firearms.

According to the OC, police recovered and secured the rest of the arms and ammunition in the vault: 67 pistols, 12 shotguns, one rifle, and 991 blank cartridges. These are now being kept at the police station.

Multiple attempts to contact members of Biman's security department for further details were unsuccessful.