The blaze at Dhaka airportโs cargo village on October 18 was more than an accident. Suspicion grew as the officials barred the firefighters from extinguishing the fire at the earliest, taking time to secure permission from the higher authorities, and the claims of missing CCTV footage.
When the fire was doused after more than 24 hours and the smoke cleared, a vault containing sophisticated arms, like the M4 carbines and Taurus pistols, was found broken. These arms are used by the SWAT force of the Bangladesh Police.
A few days before the mysterious blaze, which also destroyed 18 tons of equipment for the Russia-funded Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant worth $1 billion, mob leader-turned-adviser of the Jamaat-controlled interim government, Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, publicly spoke of โfirearms trainingโ for young citizens.
Around the same time, Jamaat leader Nayeb-e-Amir Dr. Syed Abdullah Mohammad Taher said that some 50,00,000 youth will fight against India and implement the Ghazwa-e-Hind.
The announcements coincide with the frequent visits of Pakistani generals and ministers alongside top leaders of jihadist groups like Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT), and the US-backed Yunus regimeโs provocations against India.
Seven firearms were stolen from the vault of the strong room, which was intact even in the terrible fire at the import cargo complex of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The weapons were found missing from the vault during a regular inspection of the strong room of the complex on Sunday afternoon.
The daily Ajker Patrika reported on Tuesday that a general diary (GD) has been filed with the Airport police station in this regard, and the Police Headquarters has been informed.
However, it could not be confirmed how many weapons were stolen, Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Uttara Division of DMP Mohidul Islam said.
The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism has also formed an investigation committee.
The fire broke out at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s import cargo complex on October 18. A large part of the imported goods was destroyed in the fire. Traders are claiming that the damage could be Tk12,000 crore.
However, despite the intense heat of the fire, the items kept in the vault of the complex’s strong room were almost completely intact. After the fire was extinguished, the strong room was sealed in the presence of various agencies.
Officials said that valuables, import documents, customs documents, important commercial documents, gold, diamonds and firearms are kept in the vault of the strong room. Signatures of officials of multiple agencies are required to remove goods and documents from the strong room, which has several levels of security.
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A source in the airport security department said that on October 24, representatives of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines security department, the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) and an intelligence agency visited the strong room of the import cargo complex.
They found the lock of the vault containing firearms in the strong room open, and the trunk broken. They found 21 firearms in the vault. Of these, three had partially burned backs, and 18 were boxed. The vault and trunk were later repaired, and the strong room was resealed.
These weapons included a US-made M4 carbine rifle and a semi-automatic pistol made by the Brazilian company Taurus. The M4 carbine rifle is commonly used by the police’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT).
The M4 carbine is a 5.56mm gas-operated carbine, which is a lighter version of the M16A2 assault rifle. It is widely used in the US military.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines has been taking care of the security of the vault since the fire. Assistant Manager (Security) Md. Jamal Hossain filed the GD with the airport police station on October 28 regarding the vault break-in.
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The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) forensic team has collected evidence, including lock-cutting tools, from the scene.
The vault in the strong room was mainly used to store weapons imported by the Bangladesh Police and legal arms dealers. However, as all the related documents were burnt in the fire, it could not be confirmed whether there were 21 or more weapons.
Then, on Sunday, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, CAAB and officials of an intelligence agency went to inspect the vault for the second time and found that the lock of the vault was open and the trunk was also broken.
It was found that seven weapons of two types out of the 21 were missing.
On Monday, to prevent new weapons theft, the remaining 14 weapons in the vault and the weapons in the other vaults were kept at the police station.
Police officials said that there were gold and diamonds in the strong room. Apart from that, only the theft of firearms is mysterious.
Meanwhile, the investigating officer of the GD filed on the first phase of the vault breaking on October 24, Airport police station Sub-Inspector Mainul Islam said that they are looking into the matter.
He added that the CCTV cameras around the import cargo house were burnt in the fire. No footage was found in the hard drive. Several suspects have been questioned, he said, without giving details.
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