Images circulating on Facebook claim that a large cache of weapons, looted during the mass uprising a year ago, has recently been recovered from a mosque near Khilgaon Police Station in Dhaka. However, a FactWatch investigation reveals that these weapons were not recovered recently. They were recovered on August 7, 2024, immediately following the uprising, with assistance from local residents and handed over to the army. The Imam and worshippers of Khilgaon Emanbag Jame Mosque played a key role in this effort.

To verify the claim, reverse image searches of the viral photos led to a Facebook page named Hossain Adnan, where the same images were posted on August 7, 2024. The caption of the post stated that the weapons had been looted from Khilgaon Police Station and were later recovered by Mufti Imtiaz Masrur, director of the Islamic musical group Kolorob, along with mosque attendees, and then returned to the army.

Based on this post, Mufti Imtiaz Masrur’s personal Facebook profile was located. He is the Imam and Khatib of Emanbag Jame Mosque in Jhilpar, Khilgaon. He also posted the same images on August 7, 2024.

In his post, he wrote: “Alhamdulillah! With the help of the devout residents of Khilgaon Emanbag Jame Mosque, we were able to recover and hand over more than a hundred looted firearms from Khilgaon Police Station to the Bangladesh Army. I remain forever grateful to the religious residents of Jhilpar Emanbag.”

Following the recent recirculation of these images on Facebook, Mufti Imtiaz posted again on Saturday night, August 9, stating: “On August 5 last year, when Khilgaon Police Station was set on fire and weapons were being looted, risking our lives and with the help of locals, we recovered the firearms and stored them at my workplace, Emanbag Jame Mosque. Later, upon informing the army, they came and took the weapons. They highly praised our brave initiative... The official and written documentation of the entire incident is preserved at the police station and army camp.”

Additionally, a report published by Channel 24 on August 7 last year confirms this narrative. According to the report, more than a hundred firearms were looted from Khilgaon Police Station during the government-overthrowing uprising on August 5, 2024. On August 7, the weapons were recovered and handed over to the army after being stored at the mosque with help from the local community.

When FactWatch contacted Khilgaon Police Station regarding the claim, the duty officer, Zahed, stated that he was unaware of any such recent incident in the area.

In conclusion, the claim that weapons looted during the mass uprising were recovered from a mosque one year later is inaccurate. FactWatch has therefore labeled this claim as false.

Source: https://www.fact-watch.org/a-large-cache-of-looted-weapons-is-recovered-from-mosque-khilgaon/