DUSHANBE, May 3, 2011, Asia-Plus — According to the Ministry of Interior (MoI), a large arms cache has been discovered in the southern Khatlon province.
The source at a MoI says police officers discovered the cache containing one hunting gun K-12, three RGD-5 hand grenades as well as more than 200 bullets of 7.62 mm caliber and 455 bullets of 5.45 mm caliber on May 2 while inspecting the Sarkokuli area in Hamadoni district.
According to the Interior Ministry data, 473 firearms, including 88 assault rifles, 60 pistols, 50 carbines, more than 50 rifles, more than 200 smooth-bore guns as well as a large amount of ammunition have been confiscated or surrendered to police stations across the country over the first three months of this year under the ongoing weapons collection.
The campaign to urge people to surrender weapons was launched in December 1994. Since then, more than 33,000 weapons have reportedly been confiscated or handed over to police stations.
