January 23, 2025
DHAKA – Dhaka airport authorities received another bomb threat through a text message yesterday.
The threat was sent to an Airport Armed Police Battalion (APBn) duty officer’s phone number via a WhatsApp number, said Group Captain Kamrul Islam, executive director of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA).
“As per protocol, we are working in coordination with all agencies and have tightened security measures,” he said.
All operations at HSIA are proceeding as normal, he added.
Air Vice Marshal Monjur Kabir Bhuiyan, chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB), informed The Daily Star that the threat message was sent around 11:00 pm.
He said the message was sent through WhatsApp from a Malaysian number.
Earlier yesterday, a WhatsApp message sent to an APBn duty officer claimed that a Dhaka-bound Biman flight from Rome was carrying a large amount of explosives. This message originated from a Pakistani phone number, according to the CAAB chairman, who disclosed the details at a press conference held at HSIA yesterday afternoon.
The message claimed that 34 kilograms of explosives were aboard Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight BG 356 from Rome, set to detonate upon landing at HSIA, according to APBn sources.
As a precaution, the flight with 250 passengers and 13 crew members on board made an emergency landing at 9:20am. The flight, which departed from Leonardo da Vinci Airport in Rome at 8:00pm local time on January 21, was thoroughly inspected, but no bomb or explosives were found.
After completing security checks, the flight was cleared for further operations.