The government says it hopes the UK will announce lifting a ban on direct cargo flights from Dhaka to London within this month.
Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon went to UK on November 27 to discuss ending the embargo. He held talks with UK Department of Transport and highlighted the Dhaka airport’s bolstered security measures.
“We hope UK will withdraw the ban,” the minister said. “An announcement to this end may come this month.”
UK slapped an embargo on direct air cargo shipment from Dhaka to London in March 2016 citing security reasons.
A three-member UK team of representative visited Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport’s security and held talks with civil aviation authorities.
Civil aviation sources say the team had expressed satisfaction with the security system. UK has advised appointing security advisors on long-term basis.
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Civil Aviation Ministry’s Additional Secretary Abul Hasnat Ziaul Haq said the UK team had expressed content after observing Bangladesh’s situation.
“Our minister has held talks with UK’s Department of Transport over evaluating airport security and lifting the ban,” he said. “We can hope for an announcement this month [on ending the embargo]. We have requested them to make the announcement within December.”
Ministry sources said British company Redline was appointed to upgrade the airport’s security after the cargo ban. Apart from training Civil Aviation officials, the company suggested installing modern equipment to check luggage.
An Explosive Detection System has been set up at the export cargo zone at UK’s advice.
Apart from that, eight dogs – four German Shepherds and four Labradors – have been added to the airport’s Armed Police Battalion’s dog squad. These dogs can sniff out drugs and explosives, among other things.
Meanwhile, the government is installing a number of other equipment to bolster security following UK’s advice. These include – duel view x-ray scanning machine to check heavy bags, duel view scanning machine to search handbags, liquid explosive detection system, under vehicle scanning system, fap barrier gate with card reader, barrier gate with RFID card reader, explosive detection system, and explosive trace detection.This article was first published on Bangla Tribune