KARACHI: With the two-week campaign drawing to a close on Saturday night, the Sindh government has so far been able to recover only 16 illegal weapons from Karachi.

An estimated Rs 30 million was spent on the advertising campaign for the government drive against unlawful arms. Based on the estimated cost, each of the recovered illegal weapons cost the provincial government a massive Rs 1.8 million.

Documents from the Sindh Home Department showed the weapons included four rifles, five shotguns, seven pistols, and 202 bullets and eight magazines.

Confirming the low number of weapons recovered in the 14-day drive, Additional IG Police Shahid Hayat said: “Police and Rangers will now launch joint action against illegal arms.”

The illegal weapons were voluntarily surrendered by persons to police stations in Gulberg, Defence, Artillery Ground, Gizri, Baghdadi, Mominabad, Azizabad, Jackson Market, Steel Town, Shahrae Noor Jahan and Bin Qasim areas.

“The amount was spent on the advertising campaign as per the orders of the Supreme Court. It is unfortunate that such a small number of weapons could be recovered,” said provincial information minister Sharjeel Memon defending the drive.

Memon said that mostly terrorists and criminals owned illegal weapons, and that they would not easily give them up. “The Sindh government will now initiate a thorough operation against illegal arms in the city.”

Weapons are being collected at 131 collection points, including 103 police stations and 28 points where the illegal weapons were being voluntarily surrendered, said Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui.

Siddiqui admitted that the number of weapons surrendered was very low, but said a final compiled report would be released at 12 midnight.

The government had banned issuance of arms licenses on Sept 26 and had launched the major drive against illegal weapons from Sept 27 to Oct 12.

The Sindh information ministry had also launched an aggressive advertisement campaign asking people through the print and broadcast media to cooperate with police and city administration and surrender illegal arms if they had any.

The drive ends midnight, but with only hours left it is unlikely that the number of surrendered weapons would increase substantially.