Police start investigation, get ‘toy pistol’ as evidence

The Chattogram Metropolitan Police counter terrorism unit on Tuesday received material evidences of the attempted plane hijack, including the ‘toy pistol’ the lone suspect was carrying, as it began investigating the incident.
A senior official of the unit said that army commandos handed over to them the evidences, including the ‘toy pistol’, they had seized during the commando operation that killed lone suspect Polash Ahmed in the Bangladesh Airlines plane at Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram on February 24.
CMP counter terrorism unit deputy commissioner Mohammad Shahidullah said, ‘We received the evidences seized by other agencies from the spot.’
Rapid Action Battalion-7 commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Mifta Uddin Ahmed said that the bag, Polash was carrying, was examined jointly by their bomb disposal team and the navy on suspicion but no explosive was found.
Shahidullah said that they started the investigation Tuesday morning, few hours after a case filed with Patenga police station by Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh technology assistant Debadrata Sarkar against Polash Ahmed and unidentified others under the Anti-Terrorism Act over the attempted plane.
He said that they were collecting all possible evidence to establish the motive.
The investigators said that they found penetration of three bullets in the aircraft.
They also said that the crime scene unit of the Criminal Investigation Department found no spent cartridges on the board. 
‘Sniper like weapons probably were used from rear exit of the plane to any target near the cabin,’ said one of the investigators.
Some pink paper objects were also seized from the plane as the investigators suspect those were remains of any explosion of crackers, said the investigator, adding, the bullets riddle through the partition which separated economic class with the business class of the plane.
The investigators visited the airport and the aircraft, Boeing 737-800, still kept parked at the airport.
They said that they were now examining how the suspect had bought his ticket, and from where and who purchased it.
Asked about the ticket purchase, Biman spokesperson Shakil Meraj declined to comment.
Following the incident, Biman formed a four-member committee headed by its director planning Md Mahbub Jahan Khan. The committee was asked to submit report in five days.
Two senior Biman officials said that the pilots and crew were interviewed and kept in Dhaka as the investigation was underway. 
One of them said that all passengers left the plane and then cabin crew except Shahiduzzaman Sagar, who was asked to behave decent with the suspect to keep him busy. The crew left plane just before the entry of the commandos pretending that he was switching off the lights.
The official said that during his internal interview, the crew said that he saw a pistol-like object with the suspect. 
Civil aviation authority chairman M Naim Hassan said that they came to know that the gun and explosive-like substances were made of plastic. 
The Civil Aviation Authority, meanwhile, asked all its operators to strictly follow its June 30, 2017 instruction of using photo identity card while travelling by air. 
The June 30, 2017 instruction asked passengers travelling by air on domestic and or international route must produce their photo identity card at their check-in counter along with the ticket. 
The valid identity cards include valid passport, national ID card or smart card, driving licence, ID card issued by any educational institute or relevant institutions. 
Novo Air and Biman Bangladesh Airlines already issued statement on Tuesday in this regard reminding its passengers. 
Polash Ahmed’s body was handed over to his family on early Tuesday, said the CMP (Patenga zone) assistant commissioner Zahidul Islam.
Polash was buried at his Dudhghata village of Sonargaon upazila in Narayangnaj on Tuesday.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net