Sixty-one passengers who had checked in and collected boarding passes for a Malaysia-bound Biman Bangladesh Airlines flight decided to not board the flight from Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after immigration officials and airline authorities stopped 15 fellow travellers over fake or tampered visas.
The incident occurred on Saturday night (4 July), before the Biman flight BG-386 from Dhaka to Kuala Lumpur departed at 8:50pm.
Confirming the matter, Biman Bangladesh Airlines spokesperson Boshra Islam told The Business Standard that 262 passengers and one infant booked seats on the flight.
Immigration authorities offloaded 10 passengers from the plane and Biman’s Passenger Control Unit (PCU) stopped another five at the boarding gate after detecting tampered or fake visas, she added.
“Eventually, 192 passengers and one infant travelled on the flight, while 61 others who had checked in did not report to the boarding gate,” she said.
According to airport sources, many of the 61 passengers believed to have left the airport after learning that authorities had intensified scrutiny of travel documents following the detection of tampered visa and other documents.
In total, 76 passengers did not travel on the flight. All of them were supposed to travel with Malaysian tourist visas.
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