Boarding aircraft with weapon impossible: Minister

State minister for civil aviation and tourism Mahbub Ali on Monday said that it is not possible to pass through the airport security system and board an aircraft with a weapon.

He was speaking to the media at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka.

The state minister said, any weapon being carried through the security system becomes visible. The matter has been investigated and there is no evidence of any weapon being taken through.

The state minister then went on to demonstrate how the screening system at the airport functions.

Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority, air vice marshal M Nayeem Hasan, also addressing the media, said an inquiry committee is looking into the incident of the attempt to hijack Biman’s Mayurpankhi aircraft on Sunday at Chattogram’s Shah Amanat Ali International Airport.

Members of the inquiry committee will speak to the pilots and crew who were in the aircraft at the time and all others concerned.

The Biman flight (BG 147) was supposed to depart from the Dhaka Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at 5:05 in the afternoon, en route Dubai, via Chittagong.

The attempt to hijack the plane was made immediately upon take off. After a tense two hours, the drama finally ended through an eight-minute commando operation at 7:24 in the evening at the Chattogram Hazrat Shah Amanat Ali International Airport. The armed young man was killed in the operation.

RAB claimed to have identified the young man killed in the commando operation as Md Polash Ahmed. According to the elite force, he appears on their criminal database.

In the meantime, the body of the young man has been kept at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital morgue. No one has come to the morgue to claim the body.