The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested a ground officer of Biman Bangladesh Airlines for allegedly assisting three passengers in travelling to Italy using fake Schengen visas through a human trafficking network.
The arrested official, Mohammad Akhlasur Rahman, was detained from Jamalpur on Tuesday morning, CID's Special Superintendent (SS) of Police Badrul Alam Molla told a press briefing at the agency’s headquarters in Malibagh.
According to CID, the three passengers left Dhaka for Italy on May 26 on a Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight. Two of them—Mostafizur Rahman Anik and Akshay Chandra Das—were detected with forged Schengen visas upon arrival at Rome airport and were subsequently sent back to Bangladesh. A third passenger managed to clear immigration in Italy, but CID did not disclose his identity.
After the two passengers were repatriated, questioning by different agencies on May 28 revealed information about a trafficking network that had arranged their travel. A case was later filed with Airport Police Station on May 30, leading to the investigation and arrest of the Biman official.
CID said the passengers initially obtained boarding passes for a Nepal-bound flight, which did not require visas, and completed immigration formalities using those passes. However, their names were not included in the passenger manifest of the Nepal bound flight.
Based on an analysis of CCTV footage from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, investigators found that after getting the Nepal boarding passes, the passengers exited through a staff gate and went to the car parking area, where they allegedly received Italy-bound boarding passes, tickets and forged visas from another individual.
The passengers later returned, completed immigration procedures using the Nepal boarding passes and, at one stage, entered a washroom area outside CCTV coverage, where the fake Schengen visas were attached to their passports, CID said.
Investigators alleged that Akhlasur assisted the passengers in passing through the INS gate, the final checkpoint before boarding the Italy-bound flight. Since their immigration clearance had been obtained using Nepal-bound boarding passes, the INS gate was the remaining barrier before boarding, CID officials said.
Upon arrival in Italy, immigration authorities detected the forged visas of two passengers and returned them to Bangladesh.
Badrul Alam said three people have been named in the case, including another Biman official.
He said those found involved during the investigation would be arrested in phases.
He also said Akhlasur had verbally admitted his involvement in the incident, though investigators were still examining whether he had links to similar cases.
The CID official pointed to a lack of coordination between airlines and immigration authorities regarding passenger manifests and boarding pass verification, describing it as a factor behind the incident.
He added that law enforcement would take action against anyone involved in human trafficking or migrant smuggling, regardless of their institutional affiliation.