‘Hijacker carrying fake gun’

Officials: Suspect had issues with wife and wanted to speak to PM

Dhaka: A would-be hijacker shot and killed by Bangladesh commandos was carrying a fake gun and told negotiators he wanted to commandeer a Dubai-bound flight because he had troubles with his wife, officials said.

The 25-year-old was shot and later died of his wounds after taking a crew member hostage on the Biman Airlines jet, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Chittagong airport late on Sunday.

Some 134 passengers and 14 crew members were released unharmed after an operation that lasted barely 10 minutes.

Airport manager Wing Commander Sarwar-e-Jaman said the hijacker was “psychologically imbalanced”.

“The reason he gave for the hijack was that he had troubles with his wife and he wanted to talk to the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina,”

said Sarwar.

Flight BG 147 was going from Dhaka to Dubai via Chittagong when the hijacking started.

The man reportedly wielded a gun in the cabin and tried to storm the cockpit, forcing an emergency landing.

One passenger told reporters he may have fired the weapon twice but civil aviation authority chairman Air Vice Marshall Nayeem Hasan on Monday said the gun he was carrying was not real.

“According to those who have seen it, it appears that the gun was fake,” Hasan said.

Bangladesh’s elite police unit, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), meanwhile identified the suspect as Mohammad Polash Ahmed ( pic) from Narayanganj, just outside the

capital Dhaka.

“His details matched a criminal on our database,” the RAB said in a statement, adding that he was arrested in 2012 over an abduction case and served 20 days in prison.

Ahmed’s father Piar Jahan said his son married a Bangladeshi film star just under a year ago without the consent of the family.

Jahan said he was not sure if his son, who was an aspiring actor, was having relationship troubles with his wife, who goes by the name of Shimla.

The actress was not immediately available for comment.

Intimate images purportedly of the pair have gone viral on social media since the hijacking.

Amid multiple investigations, authorities are focusing on how

Ahmed managed to smuggle even a fake gun past security at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

“An inquiry is underway,” the civil aviation chief said.

“It is virtually impossible to breach this security as the system is designed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation,” he added.

Hasan said Bangladesh security was in line with global standards and the country’s airports were regularly checked by top international firms.

Abdullah al Faruq, the head of Dhaka international airport, said security oversight “has been increased” at the country’s largest terminal since the incident.

Pictures of the plane on the runway at Chittagong’s Shah Amanat international airport in the dark dominated local newspapers on Monday.