Nepal brings over 6,700 illegal arms under control

The government of Nepal has collected over 6,700 illegal arms used by the citizens as well as criminals after issuing public notices to surrender the weapons, Nepal's Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed on August 22.



"As of Thursday, the number of arms brought under the government's control has reached 6,745 units," Uddab Bhattarai, a Ministry spokesperson, told Xinhua.



The arms include rifle, homemade gun, pistol and revolver, said Bhattarai, adding that they were collected by publicly calling upon citizens to obey the law and help the government minimize crimes triggered by the arms. Under the surrender drive, citizens were requested to submit their arms to local administration offices and police offices in all 75 districts.



"We will now ask the local government offices to bring the weapons to Kathmandu, so that we can study and analyze their condition," said Bhattarai. Meanwhile, the Ministry has constituted a committee to recommend about how the collected weapons could be managed. "Usable weapons will be given to police and army, while some will be kept in museum. The remaining non- usable weapons will be destroyed," revealed Bhattarai.



Those, still in possession of the illegal weapons, will be liable for an imprisonment of five years and a fine of 1,000 US dollars, according to the Ministry.





