Bangladesh is set to provide its highest security to the Australia national football team ahead of their Fifa World Cup qualifier today. The security measure has been the agenda for the past one month and the recent terrorist attacks in Paris only increased the magnitude of the concern.
The Socceroos arrived yesterday evening in Dhaka in probably their shortest tour ever. The team reached their hotel from the airport sometime around 9pm and today they will head straight to the airport as soon as the match at the Bangabandhu National Stadium is completed.
Sheikh Mohammad Maruf Hasan, DIG (police), who is also the security head of Bangladesh Football Federation and a security officer of AFC, said: “We have taken security measures as per Fifa recommendations. We have installed a two-layer security at the airport, with Armed Police Battalion and police in front.
“And a four-layer protection en route to the hotel. We have ensured uninterrupted traffic while they will be on their way from the airport to the hotel, and from the hotel to the match venue.”
He added that there will be a four-layer security at the venue.
Maruf also said that the spectators would not be allowed to bring anything other than tickets and mobile phones inside the venue. Security personnel will be deployed on top of the tall buildings surrounding the stadium while it is needless to say that there will be a heavy security inside the venue too.
“There was no need for any extra securities after the Paris attack. We had already taken enough security measures. If you want to compare the security measures for this match, you can only compare it to the one taken for the 2011 friendly match between Argentina and Nigeria,” Maruf said.
The gates at the stadium will open at 2:30pm today, three hours ahead of the kick-off.