During the Eid holidays, a time when most people in Bangladesh bond with their loved ones, an unprecedented and secretive event occurred. For the first time on record, two Boeing 747-400 BCF aircraft, capable of carrying up to 24,115 cubic feet or 108 gross metric tons of cargo,… pic.twitter.com/9zAbBwgv6d
— Sami (@ZulkarnainSaer) April 12, 2024
Fron Zulkarnain Saer’s Twitter feed 12 April 2024
During the Eid holidays, a time when most people in Bangladesh bond with their loved ones, an unprecedented and secretive event occurred. For the first time on record, two Boeing 747-400 BCF aircraft, capable of carrying up to 24,115 cubic feet or 108 gross metric tons of cargo, landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka from Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel. The cargo aircraft’s, registered and operated by National Air Cargo Inc. USA, also known as National Airlines, landed in Dhaka on April 7, 1923 hours bearing flight no N8806 (NCR806) from Tel Aviv and departed from Dhaka at 2354 hours the same day. The second flight, operated by the same company under flight number N8848 (NCR848), arrived directly from Tel Aviv to Dhaka at 1954 hours on April 11, and left Dhaka on April 12 at 0029 hours. Although both flights arrived directly from Tel Aviv to Dhaka, they made their next stop at Sharjah Airport in the United Arab Emirates after departing from Bangladesh. While Bangladesh and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations, and Bangladesh does not officially recognize Israel as a state, investigative reports in the recent past suggested that Bangladesh has acquired advanced surveillance equipment and spyware from Israel. These reports also allege that Bangladeshi military intelligence officers received training, and that several intelligence agencies and the National Telecommunication Monitoring Centre have been involved in human rights violations using these technologies. However, there is no known instance of a direct flight from Israel to Bangladesh before this. A former ambassador, who wished to remain anonymous, commented that the landing of flights from Israel carrying goods in Bangladesh is an unprecedented event given the lack of formal diplomatic relations and Bangladesh not recognizing Israel as a state, except in cases of emergency landings. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, at the recent Munich Security Conference, condemned Israel’s actions in Palestine to the
, stating that “Israel is literally committing genocide in Palestine.” She has openly criticized Israel on multiple occasions. To date, 33,000 Palestinians have lost their lives due to Israeli attacks, of which 25,000 are women and children. The Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, when approached for details regarding the two flights, stated their inability to comment on the matter. Contents of the cargo remain unknown. Flight paths and details were obtained using the air navigation app and has been verified by professionals.
