DHAKA: Civil Aviation Authority, Bangladesh (Caab) and Bangladesh Customs are at loggerheads over whether the latter’s officials should go through security checks during raids, something proving detrimental to efforts to seize smuggled gold at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.
The rift surfaced though media reports on Tuesday night when Caab officials asked a customs team to register names and go through a security check before boarding a Singapore Airlines plane and conducting a search.
The team, acting on a tip-off that there was over 100 kilogrammes of smuggled gold inside the plane, then cancelled the raid. The same occurred when another team attempted to search a Malaysia Airlines aircraft on November 3.
“Section 164 of Customs Act 1969 gives us absolute authority to search any aircraft if there is any information of smuggling,” Assistant Commissioner of Customs Shahiduzaman Sarkar told.
He also said by obstructing them, Caab violated the law and assisted in smuggling.
However, the airport’s director, Group Captain MK Zakir Hassan, said the security check was a part of maintaining the highest level of security. “But they denied and even threatened our officials of arrests,” he added.
He said they could not allow anyone to enter an aircraft without a proper security check up as the prime minister herself directed them to ensure the highest security. “If anything happens then who is going to take the responsibility,” he questioned.
A security agency official termed the row “immature behaviour from both sides”.
The intended target can slip away even for a short delay in the drive and coordination and assistance from other agencies are very necessary, said Joint Commissioner of Customs SM Sohel Rahman yesterday.
Working with just clues and no details, success comes after several drives, he said. “How will we work if we are pressurised instead of being provided assistance?” he said, adding that such obstacles might demoralise the officers.
The airport has become a major smuggling route in recent years. Over 1,000 kilogrammes of gold have been seized, mostly at Dhaka airport, in the last one and a half years.
Officials of Caab, intelligence agencies and Biman Bangladesh Airlines have been arrested for allegedly abetting the smuggling.
