The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has been renamed Special Intervention Force (SIF), Home Affairs Adviser Lieutenant General Md. Jahangir Alam Chowdhury (Retd.) announced on Tuesday.

He made the announcement while briefing journalists after a meeting of the Law and Order Core Committee at the Ministry of Home Affairs conference room in the Bangladesh Secretariat on Tuesday afternoon.

The Home Affairs Adviser said a committee was formed to restructure RAB under the chairmanship of Lieutenant General (Retd.) Abdul Hafiz, Special Assistant to the Chief Adviser on Defence and National Solidarity Development. The committee recommended changing the name of RAB to “Special Intervention Force (SIF),” which has been approved by the Chief Adviser of the interim government. A gazette notification will be issued soon, he added.

Once the gazette is issued, the force will begin its operations with renewed motivation and professionalism. Alongside the name change, the uniform of the force will also be redesigned. The adviser noted that reforms will not be limited to the name and uniform, but will also include changes to the force’s operational activities.

The Home Affairs Adviser further said that an Electoral Management Exercise involving election officials and members of various law enforcement agencies would be held Tuesday afternoon at Tetuljhora College polling centre in Tetuljhora Union of Savar Upazila, Dhaka district. Through this exercise, the public will be able to observe the role and preparedness of law enforcement agencies in the upcoming election, he added.

During the briefing, Director General (Operations and Plans) of the Armed Forces Division Brigadier General Md. Ali Haidar Siddiqui said that since the Election Commission announced the election schedule, the armed forces have recovered 199 firearms and 1,972 rounds of ammunition and arrested 1,807 individuals. He said 106,223 members of the armed forces have been deployed across the country under the “In Aid to Civil Power” arrangement.

He also said that so far, the armed forces have recovered 4,432 lost firearms belonging to police and RAB, 65 firearms lost by prison authorities, 328 licensed firearms, and 2,906 other types of weapons. In total, 7,731 firearms have been recovered.

Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Nasimul Ghani, Inspector General of Police Baharul Alam, BPM, and other senior officials were present at the briefing.