Dhaka district deputy commissioner Mohammad Mominur Rahman and other officials visit a booth for biometric registration set up at the DC office today (December 27, 2022). Photo: Emrul Hasan Bappi/Star
The Dhaka district administration is working on bringing all firearms licencing procedures under a biometric registration system to prevent illegal use of arms and reduce public sufferings.
"We have started biometric registration for firearms' licences under Smart Firearms Licence Management System on December 19 and it will continue till March," Dhaka district deputy commissioner Mohammad Mominur Rahman told reporters at his office this noon.
This applies to individual firearm buyers and dealers.
Till December 11 this year, a total of 12,551 firearms' licences have been issued by authorities. Meanwhile around 554 licences were cancelled for various reasons in the last two years, said concerned officials.
"Through this system, the authorities can easily verify the legality of a firearm online. Firearms' users can also easily renew their licences," the DC said.
Those seeking to register their firearms licence under the biometric system can now do so at two booths, one set up at the office of the district administration and another inside Dhaka cantonment, he added.
"The smart licence cards, which will act as a digital information store, will be provided after biometric registration is completed," added the top boss of the district administration.
Excluding Dhaka, biometric registration for firearm licences is now going on at 27 more districts in the country.
The authorities of Chattogram district took up this initiative first in December 2018.
Following this, the home ministry on July 29, 2019 sent a letter to all deputy commissioners to implement the biometric system for firearm licences.
