The Ministry of Defence has declared a period of amnesty to hand over firearms in the possession of civilians, without valid licenses, Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said.
According to the Secretary, arrangements are in place to offer cash rewards to those willing to hand over their weapons.
"The deadline for the amnesty will be announced within this week," he said.
In response to several media queries, Hettiarachchi said that several parties are expressing views about an escalating crime wave. "But this was further from the truth. Crimes such as robberies, rape and shooting incidents took place during the previous regime too.
But due to the conflict situation which prevailed in the country during that period these lost prominence," he said. Now this type of news gets highlighted in the media and carries a good market .
"That is not bad, it is also very helpful to make people aware of the need to take measures to protect themselves " the Defence Secretary added.
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