For the second time, the bomb threat targeting Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) has proven to be a hoax. The airport authorities conducted a search again late Wednesday following a threat from a Malaysian WhatsApp number. However, the authority found no evidence supporting the threat.
At around 11 pm on Wednesday, the on-duty officer of the Airport Armed Police Battalion (APBn) received a bomb threat message on his WhatsApp, sent from a Malaysian number. Following the message, a search operation was carried out until 2:30 am on Thursday.
Group Captain Kamrul Islam, the executive director of HSIA, told the media, "Upon receiving the message, we immediately strengthened security and conducted a thorough search in coordination with all the security forces stationed at the airport as per protocol. However, as no evidence was found, the security search was officially declared over at 2:30 am."
Earlier, a similar bomb threat was issued against a flight of Biman Bangladesh Airlines travelling from Rome, Italy, to Dhaka. That threat message was sent from a Pakistani WhatsApp number to the official WhatsApp number of the APBn’s duty officer.
The message claimed that there were 34 kilograms of explosives on the Rome-Dhaka-bound flight, which were supposedly intended to be detonated after the plane landed at Shahjalal Airport.
However, after the flight landed on Wednesday morning, a search was conducted, and no explosives were found.
Bd-pratidin English/Fariha Nowshin Chinika
