A mysterious incident unfolded at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport when 76 passengers failed to board a Malaysia-bound Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight on Saturday night after fake e-visas were detected at the boarding gate.
Five passengers were found to have counterfeit e-visas during boarding checks for Biman flight BG-386 on the Dhaka-Malaysia route. After the discovery, many other passengers waiting in the boarding line abruptly left the area. Several later had their departure stamps canceled and re-entered the country, airport sources said.
The sources added that the visas of all 76 passengers had been accepted as “verified” at the check-in counter without proper scrutiny, and boarding passes were issued. Immigration also cleared them for departure. The fake visas were only detected at the boarding gate.
Airport sources said all 76 passengers were traveling to Malaysia on tourist visas, but they are preliminarily believed to have planned to remain in the country illegally through a travel agency.
An eyewitness said several passengers were pulled aside for questioning during boarding. When word spread that visa irregularities had been found, more passengers in the line slipped away. After some were formally offloaded, anxiety spread through the boarding area.
Biman authorities said immigration offloaded 10 passengers from the aircraft after they had already boarded. Another 5 were stopped at the boarding gate when their visa details did not match their passport information. A further 61 passengers who had collected boarding passes never appeared at the gate. The flight eventually departed at approximately 8:30 pm with 192 passengers out of 288 who had purchased tickets.
Biman General Manager for Public Relations Bosra Islam said: “Of the 288 ticketed passengers, immigration offloaded 10, five were stopped during passport checking for visa problems, and 61 passengers who had taken boarding passes could not be found at the gate.”
Airport Executive Director S M Ragib Samad said they are investigating the incident. Intelligence officials stationed at the airport are working to identify those involved.
A police Special Branch officer said that with prospects of Malaysia’s labor market reopening, some passengers were attempting to travel on tourist visas with the intention of working there. Immigration police offloaded them when the pattern was detected.
The officer said that in such cases, a smuggling network known as “body contract” helps passengers clear immigration despite document irregularities. Intelligence agencies suspect airport and airline officials may be involved in the racket.
Airport sources said all 76 who did not board were traveling on tourist visas to Malaysia and are believed to have had plans to remain there illegally through the same travel agency.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report