30,000 shotguns for Ansar, VDP

The government is buying 30,000 shotguns of 12-bore for the members of Ansar and VDP at a cost of over Tk 1.47 billion.

The Cabinet Committee on Government Purchase cleared the proposal to buy the weapons at a meeting chaired by Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Wednesday, reports bdnews24.com.

Some three million cartridges will also be bought for the paramilitary auxiliary forces responsible for maintaining internal security and law and order.

Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory Limited, a state-owned enterprise run by the Bangladesh Army, will purchase the arms and ammunition.

“The cost to buy 30,000 shotguns will be more than Tk 1.09 billion and three million cartridges will cost Tk 380 million," Additional Secretary to the Cabinet Division Mustafizur Rahman told reporters after the meeting.

The machine tools factory will purchase these shotguns and cartridges from three companies of Italy, Turkey and the United Kingdom, he said.