Four Bangladesh-origin Norwegian citizens and a Bangladesh national have faced harassment at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka. Among them, a Norwegian citizen was physically assaulted.
There are allegations that the Air Force's Quick Response Force (QRF) and Ansar personnel have harassed and physically assaulted the victims at the airport.
The incident happened at Arrival Canopy-2 area at the airport at about 8:00pm on Wednesday (January 8).
A source of the law enforcing agencies stationed at the airport said the name of the passenger was physically assaulted at the airport is Mohammad Sayeed Uddin. Other four were Sayeed's father Gias Uddin, mother Begum Monwara, brother Mohammad Mohiuddin, and Giasuddin's daughter-in-law Ipsa Jannatul Nayeem. All these five were harassed.
The airport sources said the five passengers arrived in Dhaka from Norway via Doha by a flight of Qatar Airlines (QR-638). They hail from Sonagazi in Feni district.
A number of sources alleged that the QRF personnel misbehaved with the passengers when they were coming out of the airport. At one stage of the altercation, they swooped on the passengers and punched and kicked Sayeed Uddin.
In spite of frequent attempts, it could not be possible to contact none of the three high officials of the Aviation Security (AVSEC) at the airport.
At about 11:30pm, Airport Armed Police Battalion (APBn) commander Shihab Kaiser Khan said five members of a family arrived in Dhaka from Norway. The altercation began when they were asked to move away from a particular place. Then they assaulted one of the family members and bloodied him punching on his face.
He said they would take legal action if they receive any complaint from the victims.
A video of the incident shows that 10 members of the QRF and Ansar were punching and kicking Sayeed Uddin besieging him from all sides. At that time, a woman was shouting and trying to save him.
Another video shows that blood was coming out Sayeed Uddin's face as he was being punched by the QRF and Ansar members. Blood stains were on beneath his face and left eye.
There are also many allegations against the AVSEC personnel as they often turn so violent that they don't hesitate to harass and assault ordinary passengers at the Dhaka Airport. Their high-handedness reached to serious extent during the previous Awami League government as they were allowed to carry lethal weapons in the name of providing protection to VVIPs like Sheikh Hasina and her ministers.
