A week has passed since the government launched a joint drive to recover firearms, but law enforcers have yet to calculate the actual number of firearms licences issued during the 15-year tenure of the Awami League government.

According to police headquarters (PHQ) database, 13,349 firearms have been submitted by civilians till midnight of September 3 as the interim government suspended the licences on August 25.

The officials, however, failed to give any specific data on how many firearms were issued during the past 15 years.

The Student and Labour wing of the police's Special Branch (SB) maintained a database of the licences issued to civilians.

Contacted, Sayed Rafiqul Islam, special superintendent of SB's Student and Labour wing, said the database shows that around 8,500 firearms have been issued during this period.

He, however, said the figure could be higher, and they are working on it.

It will be difficult to conduct a drive if the law enforcers do not know how many more firearms they need to recover, according to sources.

On August 25, the interim government suspended licences that were issued to civilians during the tenure of the AL government -- January 6, 2009 to August 5, 2024 -- and directed to submit the firearms to nearby police stations within September 3.

After the timeframe, those firearms are to be deemed illegal.

The joint drive comprising the members of the armed forces, BGB, Coast Guard, police, Rab, and Ansar, will also recover illegal firearms and the firearms and bullets looted from different police stations and security forces after the fall of Sheikh Hasina on August 5.

In six days of joint drive till September 10, the drives recovered 111 firearms and arrested 51 people, reads the PHQ database.

The recovered weapons include seven revolvers, 30 pistols, nine rifles, 15 shotguns, three pipe guns, 16 shutter guns, five LG guns, 15 guns, one AK-47, one gas gun, one Chinese rifle, one airgun, one tear gas launcher, three SMGs and three single barrel breech loader firearms.

Enamul Haque Sagor, assistant inspector general (media) of PHQ, said the joint drives are targeting three categories of firearms -- those stolen or lost from the police, SSF, and other security forces; firearms with suspended licences; and illegal firearms.

Sagor said the joint drive will continue.

According to PHQ database, 5,818 firearms and 6,07,262 bullets were looted from police, different police stations, and establishments. Of those, 3,933 guns and 3,12,857 bullets were recovered by 12:00am on September 5, according to the home ministry notification given yesterday.

The guns include rifles (Chinese), SMGs, pistols, shotguns, teargas launchers, and signal pistols.

The PHQ data shows 32,005 teargas shells, 1,455 teargas grenades, 4,692 sound grenades, 290 smoke grenades, 55 stun grenades, 893 multiple bang stun grenades, and 177 teargas spray were also looted.

Of those, 23,194 teargas shells, 704 teargas grenades, 2,128 sound grenades, 213 colour smoke grenades, 18 stun grenades, 533 multiple bang stun grenades, and 94 teargas sprays have been recovered so far, the ministry notification reads.