Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport authorities confiscated a total of 38 small unmanned aircraft systems or drones in the past three months.
Assistant commissioner Md Shahiduzzaman Sarkar of Dhaka Customs House told Prothom Alo that no one had contacted to take back the seized drones.
However, the last 10 drones that were confiscated recently were manufactured in China. The drones that were seized on 3 November were imported as toys by Days International. Of the nine drones, seven were imported from China’s DJI Biwang Technology Company Limited by a Golam Mashqur Rahman by a Singapore Airlines flight, said airport sources.
When contacted over cell phone, Golam Mashqur Rahman declined to talk about importing the drones, saying that he was then in a meeting.
Earlier in September, customs intelligence officials confiscated a total of five drones. These were being brought to Bangladesh in hiding under fabrics of readymade garments. Customs officials seized the drones when they were being released from the courier gate of the airport. However, the customs officials could not apprise Prothom Alo about the importer of the consignment.
Several officials said that these machines were small remote controlled drones which can fly over 40-storey building of 400 feet height without making any sound.
Customs and intelligence sources said that both the agencies had a meeting over the seizure of these drones on Wednesday.
The meeting discussed the causes of importing these drones and their possible uses.
A customs official requesting anonymity said quite possibly some drones might have managed to go through airport security, as so many of them have been seized in the recent past suddenly.
It has been learnt that the contractor company which is now working to build the Padma Bridge uses drones while an initiative has been taken to use drones for collecting information in the agriculture sector. Besides these two sectors, there is no information of drone uses in Bangladesh legally.
However, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) joint commissioner Monirul Islam, in a press briefing after nabbing two members of banned militant outfit Ansarullah Bangla Team on 17 December, 2014, said he feared that drones could be used for subversive activities. He told newsmen that arrested Tanzil Hossain and Golam Mawla were studying drone manufacture so that they could carry bombs to a height of 20-30 storeys.
A remote-controlled aircraft or drone, made by students of Shahjalal University using local equipment, made its inaugural flight on 29 January, 2014.
Dhaka custom house on Thursday sent a letter to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) on Thursday asking for guidelines regarding import of drones as there is no such thing in Bangladesh.
Dhaka Customs House commissioner Lutfur Rahman on Thursday told Prothom Alo that country’s security is more important than collecting duty.
Who will take the responsibility if anything wrong happens? So, the issue of security should be given priority, he added.
Source: Prothom Alo
This is very bad news for every Bangladeshis.
There’s a big difference between using an item for lawful purposes such as land measurement and monitoring cattle and employees on a large farm or other workplace, it’s usually government who turn up using them for highly criminal and murderous purposes. Better off looking at the root of criminality and corruption which come from secular selfish greed than ban people from having pens in case they stab people with them, our kids can learn a lot about birdseye views of their locality too. I mean some of these things are tiny cant even lift a mobile phone – and that’s something we wished for when we flew rc helos in earlier days.
Is it like we can’t buy the toy ones for children?