The immigration authorities at Shahjalal International Airport have denied that Indian intelligence agency RAW captured a Pakistani spy from the airport as reported by the Times of India on April 15.
“I can assure you that such incident did not happen at the immigration,” Police Super (immigration) Nafiul Islam told the Dhaka Tribune over phone yesterday.
Assaduzzaman Khan, state minister for home, admitted having read the news in newspapers but “I do not know anything about it.”
“Information in this regard is being collected,” he told reporters at his office yesterday. The Times of India reported that Zia-ur Rehman alias Waqas, a spy of the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI and an operative of the Indian Mujahideen, had been held at the Dhaka airport and taken to India.
It said the ISI got a passport made for Waqas, but when he reached the airport, Bangladesh’s immigration officials discovered that there was no entry stamp on his passport.
“Even as they set out to detain him, the commotion attracted the attention of a RAW [Research and Analysis Wing] staffer who swiftly used his smart phone to photograph [Waqas] one of India’s biggest tormentors and relayed it to his superiors.
“RAW officers were thrilled when they saw that the six-foot man being held at Dhaka airport was their elusive quarry. What followed was an intense spy game in which Indian agents managed to spirit him away to India without leaving footprints,” reads the Times of India report.
In reply to a question, the state minister said RAW could not do it. “We have an extradition treaty with India, but no other arrangement.”
Shahjalal Airport’s Immigration SP Nafiul Islam said the civil aviation authorities checked a passenger’s documents before the immigration.