RAUTAHAT, JUN 25 - Twenty-nine people have submitted applications at the Rautahat District Administration Office (DAO) seeking licence to keep arms in the past four months alone.
The DAO, following a meeting of the District Security Committee, has sent 11 applications to the Home Ministry for approval. Chief District Officer Shivahari Upadhyay said the remaining applications have not been decided upon as the ministry is yet to evaluate the previous ones. Leaders of various political parties and former lawmakers are among those applying for licence.
Meanwhile, the DAO has not returned licensed arms seized from local people during the insurgency years. Police had seized the weapons from various parts of the district after the then Maoist rebels started looting them from local people.
Forty-five 12-bore shotguns seized from local people are stored at the DAO. A police official said the DAO has not returned the weapons as there is still a risk that criminal groups may loot them from local people.
“It is risky to return the arms to their owners for security reasons,” the official said, adding it is also risky to issue new licences to keep arms as various groups are intensifying criminal activities in the Tarai region lately.
Source: http://www.ekantipur.com/2012/06/25/national/dao-yet-to-return-seized-arms/356117/
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