Customs preventive team of Dhaka Customs House (DCH) seized 120 gold bars worth Tk 13.50 crore from inside a passenger carrying bus  owned by US Bangla Airlines at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport (HSIA) on Thursday.    Sources at the HSIA said the DCH had a secret information that a smuggler syndicate would bring a large gold consignment in Dhaka from Dubai by a flight of US Bangla Airlines and then the consignment will be smuggled out through passenger carrying vehicle of the airlines.  When a vehicle  reached near Gate-21 carrying passengers from the aircraft, customs officials started questioning driver after passengers got down from the vehicle, said Shafiqur Rahman, an officer of the DCH.   At one stage, Md Harunor Rashid, 40, the driver of the ram bus, admitted that gold consignment had been kept hidden inside the vehicle. Then the customs preventive team recovered four packets containing the gold bars, kept hidden inside the bus, the Customs official said.  After searching the four packets at the customs hall, they found 120 gold bars weighing around 14.132 kgs, he added.   A case was filed with airport police station.       

Newly appointed Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang had a brief stopover at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport early Tuesday. "Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen received his Chinese counterpart upon his arrival at around 1:58am. Chinese ambassador to Bangladesh and senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) were also present," a senior MoFA official told UNB. The foreign ministers had a brief meeting there and discussed issues of mutual interest. Earlier, Momen told UNB that it was not an official visit to Bangladesh, but the Chinese foreign minister would make a stopover here on his way to another destination. Qin Gang, who until recently was ambassador to the US, has started his term with a weeklong trip to five African countries. Read more: China’s foreign minister signals deeper ties with Russia To "deepen the China-Africa comprehensive strategic and cooperative partnership" and boost friendly cooperation between China and Africa, Foreign Minister Qin Gang will visit Ethiopia, Gabon, Angola, Benin, Egypt, the African Union Headquarters and the League of Arab States Headquarters upon invitation, from January 9 to 16, 2023," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily media briefing on Monday. This is the 33rd consecutive year that Africa has been the destination of the Chinese foreign ministers' annual first overseas visit, he added.

A female passenger has reportedly been advised to get married and settle down in Dhaka by an immigration officer at Dhaka airport. The passenger, Priyanka Basu, shared her experience on Twitter on January 5, 2023 – that received a lot of reactions, reports the Hindustan Times. After enquiring her details at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, the immigration officer apparently advised Priyanka to “find a Bangladeshi man, get married and settle in Dhaka.” Read More: E-gates at Sylhet airport will improve passengers’ experience: Foreign Minister He also noted down her contact number to be in touch if a “suitable match” comes up, Priyanka tweeted. There were many responses to the tweet, with Twitterati making jokes and mocking the immigration officer’s advice. “Never knew this was part of their job description,” said one Twitter user. Read More: Dense fog: 8 int'l flights diverted, 7 delayed at Dhaka airport Another wrote, “Sounds like this officer has stakes in a ‘marriage bureau’, start-up (dating service) as you call them in the West. I hope he will soon make you an offer you cannot refuse.”

Flight operations at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka were disrupted on Sunday (January 08, 2023) as heavy fog covered the capital like the past few days. Eight international flights have been diverted and operations of seven others were delayed due to dense fog, Group Captain Kamrul Islam, executive director of the airport, told UNB. Read more: Two flights from Middle East make emergency landing in Sylhet due to dense fog Flights of Salam Air, Kuwait Air, Air Arabia, Jazeera Airlines, Gulf Air, Malindo and BG-350 airlines were diverted to Kolkata airport in India while the flight of Air Asia airline to Yangon in Myanmar. Flights of seven airlines-- Oman Air, Biman Bangladesh, Qatar Airways, Emirates Airlines, Saudia Airlines, Himalaya Airlines and Fly Dubai Airlines—were delayed due to poor visibility caused by dense fog. Earlier on January 4, an international flight was diverted to Hyderabad in India and operations of seven others were delayed due to the same reason. Read more: Dense fog: 1 int'l flight diverted, 7 delayed at Dhaka Airport On January 3, two international flights carrying passengers from Qatar and Saudi Arabia headed for Dhaka airport made emergency landings at Sylhet Osmani International Airport due to dense fog.

Members of the Armed Police Battalion (APBn) on Saturday detained a Saudi Arabia resident with 15,400 yaba pills at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. The detainee has been identified as Md Rubel Hossain, originally from Chandpur district. Additional SP of Airport Armed Police (AAP) Mohammad Ziaul Haque said they detained Rubel on suspicion in front of Gate No. 1 of the departure terminal this afternoon. During preliminary interrogation, Masud revealed that he had kept 15,400 Yaba pills in his luggage which were recovered later, he added. Legal action will be taken against him, said the ASP. Read more: 2 held with Yaba worth over Tk 1 cr in Dhaka  

Immigration Police of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport on Friday obstructed Japanese citizen Nakano Erico and her two daughters while leaving the country. Imran Sharif, the children’s father, informed immigration police around 12 am and the authorities concerned barred Erico from leaving the country with her daughters. Talking to UNB, Imran said Erico tried to leave the country with their daughters. “I personally arrived at the airport and showed the court copy that issued an order that the two girls won’t be allowed to leave the country” “A woman, identified as Nasrin, helped Erico. When she sensed danger, she managed to flee the scene,” he said. The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on June 2, rejected Erico’s petition seeking an order to go abroad with her daughters. Also read: SC rejects Japanese woman’s plea to go abroad with her kids

Authorities of Greater Dhaka Sustainable Urban Transport Project (BRT, Gazipur-Airport) has requested outbound passengers – going to Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport – to start early, between 6pm today and 6am Sunday. A press release, signed by ASM Ilias Shah, project director, made the request to avoid possible traffic congestion during the abovementioned period. Earlier on Wednesday, Dhaka Bus Rapid Transit Company Ltd authorities requested commuters in the capital not to use the route from Khilkhet through airport to Uttara during the same period. Read more: Traffic alert: Dhaka commuters urged to avoid Airport-Uttara route from tomorrow till Sunday morning The move came as traffic situation on the Dhaka Airport-Uttara route is expected to worsen due to development work of the BRT project. Special road development work for the BRT project will be conducted in the Dhaka airport area during November 24 and 27, said a special traffic advisory signed by ASM Ilias Shah, project director of BRT. Under the circumstances, all public and private vehicles were advised to avoid Dhaka Airport-Uttara route during this period. Read more: Traffic movement to be restricted at Dhaka Cantonment Monday

The authority of Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport said the luggage of 2022 SAFF champion footballers were received by the Bangladesh Football Federation representative in a “locked and intact” condition. The authority also said they did not find any irregularity in handling the luggage at the airport, after going over CCTV footage. Earlier, at least two members of the Bangladesh women’s football team claimed their luggage were broken into at the airport and money was stolen. Read: Sabina wants to keep winning trophies playing entertaining football The footballers said they lost around Tk 2.5 lac which was in their luggage. “After receiving the complaint, we checked the CCTV footage and found that the complaint (of luggage being broken into) is not true,” a press release from HSIA authority reads. The press release was signed by the executive director of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Kamrul Islam. Read: Footballer Ritu Porna suffers head injury during victory ride on open-deck bus SAFF Women's Championship 2022 winner Bangladesh  team landed in Dhaka on Wednesday around 1:45 pm. They were taken to the headquarters of Bangladesh Football Federation from there by an open-deck bus. It was the first time that a Bangladesh women’s football team won the SAFF Championship.

When the flight from Kathmandu landed in Dhaka, Bangladesh football team captain Sabina Khatun, who was on board, had no idea what was waiting for her and her team outside the airport.  Sabina knew her team had the capabilities to lift the title and win the crown of football excellence in South Asia. Still, she had no idea what the capital city had planned for her. When they completed immigration process and came out to the media corner, Sabina came to know there were hundreds of media personnel waiting with cameras to snap their photos, and there were thousands of fans waiting with flowers to greet them for their victorious journey that ended with the ultimate prize. Read: “Our SAFF achievement is understandable if you look at our journey” Along with fans, band parties were also waiting for them with the cadence of patriotic songs. They were ready with flutes, drums and other musical instruments on the trucks decorated with photos of Sabina and her team.  A press conference was scheduled at the airport. But that failed to materialise due to the overcrowded presence of media personnel. The airport authority failed to manage the crowd. There were hundreds of police personnel to handle the situation, but they failed. There were hundreds of Ansar members too. They too failed to contain the passionate fans. Being unable to host the press conference there, the authority was forced to call it off. It took them around an hour to disperse the crowd and restore order. Read: SAFF Champion Tigresses return home

The customs Monday detained a man at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka with 1.216kg gold bars and jewellery worth Tk89 lakh. The detainee was identified as Md Shah Alam from Feni. He came to Dhaka on an Air Arabia flight from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dhaka Customs House Deputy Commissioner Md Riazul Islam said. Read: Tk 73000 cr being laundered through gold smuggling annually: BAJUS On information, a team of Dhaka Customs stopped him at the green channel and found the gold bars and jewellery after searching his bags. Legal action will be taken against Shah Alam, Riazul Islam said.