Security lax at HSIA sparks serious concerns 

How a businessman boarded a flight in Dhaka carrying 31 live rounds of ammunition and landed safely in Delhi is a matter of serious concern. After the incident, should ICAO declare Shahjalal Airport “unsafe” or downgrade its category, the economic fallout will be swift and brutal. International airlines may suspend flights or impose steep security surcharges, driving airfares out of reach

A recent investigative report exposing the fragile state of security at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport is not merely a cause for concern-it is a grave threat to national security and a devastating blow to Bangladesh's global standing. The incident involving an influential businessman who boarded a flight in Dhaka carrying 31 live rounds of ammunition and landed safely in Delhi was no minor oversight. It represents a complete collapse of the airport’s multi-tiered security apparatus. 

A standard passenger must pass through five critical checkpoints: heavy luggage scanning, check-in, immigration, hand-luggage screening, and the final boarding gate. How a bag packed with live ammunition cleared every single barrier is a horrifying question. Had Delhi Airport authorities not caught the ammunition during their own baggage screening, Bangladesh's aviation officials might never have realized how porous their system truly is. 

An international airport serves as the primary mirror of a sovereign nation's governance and discipline. When a passenger armed with live ammunition effortlessly exits the country only to be apprehended abroad, national honor is dragged through the dirt. This failure hands international aviation circles and media the justification to label Bangladesh a "risky" nation. It sends a clear message that minimum standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) are routinely ignored. Foreign diplomats, investors, and international organizations will naturally view travel to Bangladesh with deep mistrust, assuming its sensitive installations are compromised by extreme unprofessionalism and systemic corruption. 

Central to this breach was the exploitation of an "illegal protocol" designed to bypass standard screening and accord unearned privileges. Corrupt ground-service staff from Biman Bangladesh Airlines, in collusion with Civil Aviation security personnel, knowingly skirted the law. But was this simply routine bribery, or does it hint at something far more sinister? 


This cascading failure demonstrates that the breach was not an isolated act of human negligence, but a total breakdown of the system. When guards turn a blind eye to weapons in exchange for cash or influence, their actions verge on treason. An official willing to ignore live ammunition for a bribe will not hesitate to clear explosives or lethal weaponry. 

This incident serves as a final, dire warning. If an influential businessman can purchase a protocol to bypass security, so can a terrorist organization. Smuggling live ammunition onto a commercial aircraft gives hostile actors the immediate capability to hold hundreds of lives hostage, hijack a plane, or precipitate a 9/11-style tragedy. 

The consequences extending beyond immediate safety are equally catastrophic. ICAO maintains zero-tolerance policies regarding airport vulnerabilities. With news of this breach reaching international bodies, Bangladesh faces severe scrutiny. Should ICAO declare Shahjalal Airport "unsafe" or downgrade its category, the economic fallout will be swift and brutal. International airlines may suspend flights or impose steep security surcharges, driving airfares out of reach. Foreign trade-particularly ready-made garment exports relying on air freight-could face immediate bans, causing national export earnings to plummet and plunging the wider economy into crisis. 

In the wake of such scandals, authorities typically scapegoat and dismiss a few low-ranking guards to quell public outrage. However, treating a systemic disease as an isolated, individual crime leaves the real vulnerability intact. 

This is fundamentally a system failure. Had Shahjalal Airport utilized modern, automated, AI-driven screening systems that minimize human intervention, no amount of influence could have cleared that bag. Furthermore, the toxic culture of granting security exemptions to VIPs and high-profile individuals must be dismantled entirely. Security laws must apply equally to every traveler, without exception. 

The current breakdown is a siren blaring across Bangladesh's aviation sector. Minor administrative tweaks and token firings will no longer suffice. Unless authorities execute an immediate, zero-tolerance overhaul of airport security, the nation risks not only global isolation and economic paralysis, but an inevitable, catastrophic disaster.
The writer is an activist