Panic gripped people at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh on Wednesday morning received information about a potential bomb attack on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight bound for Dhaka from Rome.
Amid an alert issued by the civil aviation authority and intensified security measures sustaining for about six and a half hours, the BG-356 Biman carrier landed in the airport at about 9:20am, according to the airport and CAAB officials.聽
鈥榃e have received a message on WhatsApp from a Pakistani phone number that bombs or explosives were installed in the flight.
We have combed the entire carrier, all passengers and luggage, but no bombs or explosives were detected,鈥� CAAB chairman Air Vice Marshal Md Monjur Kabir Bhuiyan told a press conference at Hazrat Shahjalal airport.
He said that if such threats came regularly, it would be a problem.
鈥榃e have no other option but to take measures whenever such information is received,鈥� he said.
He said that they had suspected two pieces of luggage but found no bombs or explosives in them.聽
The CAAB chairman thanked the chief of Bangladesh Air Force as its members at Kurmilota, including their best commander and higher ranked officers, taskforce, special force, commandos and Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit, were present and cordoned off the airport.
The CAAB chairman said that the flight had 250 passengers and 13 crew members.
He said that the message came not as a threat but as information about potential presence of bombs or explosives in the carrier.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police, meanwhile, in its verified Facebook page said that an Armed Police Battalion duty officer received a message via WhatsAPP from a Pakistani number at about 4:37am on Wednesday.
The content of the message said that the Biman Bangladesh Airlines BG-536 aircraft bound to Dhaka from Rome was carrying 34 kilograms of high-powered explosives.
The DMP said that its Counter Terrorism and Transitional Crimes unit鈥檚 bomb disposal unit and K9 Unit joined the operations with the joint forces at the airport.聽聽
Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport executive director Group Captain Muhammed Kamrul Islam told 抖阴精品 as part of their security measures they had three planes landed before their landing schedules and secured them in safety. Afterwards the suspected aircraft landed.
鈥榃e remained on high alert from 6:00am to 12:30pm,鈥� he said, adding that the Fire Service and Civil Defence, Rapid Action Battalion, Bangladesh Air Force, among others, joined the security effort at the Airport.聽
According to a Biman Bangladesh Airlines release issued in the evening, the airport authority informed them about the bomb threat in the flight before its landing.
All passengers were brought from the aircraft safely and their luggage was checked, the release said, adding that the security threat was cleared at about 12:30pm.