Turf war at Geneva camp: Rampant use of firearms raises alarm
Clashes between armed gangs have become common in the capital's Mohammadpur Geneva Camp in recent weeks as drug dealers are trying to take control of the area, residents said.
Locals are now raising alarm over the use of firearms that had not been previously seen in the area.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Experts who have seen the photos and video clips taken by locals during the clashes said the pistols used were probably looted from police last month.
In video clips collected by this newspaper, a group of men were seen firing shotguns, pistols, and rifles.
Locals say they have been hearing gunshots almost every day since the fall of the Awami League government in early August.
On August 6, a day after Sheikh Hasina fled the country, a man named Shahen Shah was shot dead. Another man named Sonu was killed in a major shootout on September 3.
Also known as Bihari Camp, the densely populated Geneva Camp is home to over 25,000 non-Bangla speaking people. Gang activities there centre around drug abuse and trade.
Several residents said they were living in constant fear.
Before he died three years ago, Ishtiaq Ahmed, a notorious drug dealer, controlled the sale of marijuana and yaba in the camp. Several groups emerged after his death, locals said.
One of them, the Bhuiyan Sohel group, began selling heroin in 2022. Eventually, two other groups also started dealing heroin.
Tension ran high in April this year when Imtiaz group also started selling heroin.
The gangs formed two rival alliances: the Bhuiyan Sohel and Syedpuriya Babu groups are one side while the Molla Arshad and Imtiaz groups are on the other.
Each group has 20-25 armed cadres and several drug peddlers. In clashes, the gangs used sharp weapons, and threw bricks, and crude bombs at each other. But they have been using firearms since the fall of the government.
In early August, mobs looted arms and ammunition from different police stations and facilities.
As per Police Headquarters data, 5,829 firearms were looted. Of those, 3,933 were recovered while the rest are missing. The arms include rifles, SMGs, pistols, shotguns, and teargas launchers.
Locals say some of the police arms are now at the hands of the gangs.
On September 6, a Rab team recovered three abandoned shotguns, 98 bullets, and a police belt from the Beribadh area.
A police officer, who watched the videos from the Geneva Camp, said pistols, revolvers, rifles, and shotguns are often kept in police stations, either as backup or as property of civilians. The shotguns seen in the footage are not of the type that police use. But it could still be at a police station.
He said it was likely that the looted weaponry was now being used by the gangs.
"These firearms could have been owned by civilians who might have surrendered these to the police. However, a pistol seen in the video could have been owned by either the police or civilians," he said, requesting anonymity.
A source at Dhaka Medical College morgue said Sonu's body had 14 bullet wounds.
A police officer said that the bullets were from a 12-gauge shotgun.
Ruhul Kabir Khan, deputy commissioner of Tejgaon Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said police were looking into whether firearms were given to any groups before August 5 to suppress the student-led mass uprising.
Iftekhar Hasan, officer-in-charge of Mohammadpur Police Station, suspected that the firearms used in Geneva Camp might have been looted from various police stations, including Mohammadpur.
He added that police were conducting operations to arrest the suspects and recover the firearms.
No arrests have been made yet.
Comments