Ilias Kanchon ‘lied’: Ministry

Civil Aviation Ministry today claimed that Ilias Kanchon was telling lies while blaming the airport staff’s failure for detecting his pistol during security checking at the domestic terminal of Hazrat Shajalal International Airport.

In a release, the ministry said the actual fact is that the pistol and bullets containing in the laptop bag of Ilias Kanchon were detected during scanning at the anti-hijacking point at the domestic terminal of the airport.

“He admitted his fault when the officials at the airport wanted to know about this [after detection of the pistol in the scanner]. He left the place [anti-hijacking point] when the security official requested him to follow the due procedure for carrying the pistol,” the release added.

“He later travelled Chattogram by air following the due procedure,” the release also said.

Asked about the civil aviation ministry’s claim, Ilias Kanchon told The Daily Star that the ministry’s clarification is not true.

“Why they are not making public the CCTV footage of my checking? Examining the CCTV footage will clarify who is telling lie,” he added.

Questions were being raised about the security at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after a handbag containing a firearm passed through the scanners undetected yesterday. Despite the scanning, no flag was raised about the pistol and bullets in the handbag of Ilias Kanchan who was flying to Chattogram from the HSIA.

The incident took place within two weeks of an attempted hijack of a Biman aircraft by a suspect carrying a toy gun.

The film star later alleged that miscreants could take advantage of the lax security for evil purposes.