Passenger Harassment at Shahjalal Airport via Customs Checks

Sakhawat Hossain

Bangladeshi expatriates returning via Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka are often harassed and extorted by airport staff. Mohammed Tipu (65), a 36-year Saudi expat, was stopped on Thursday morning by customs officials who wanted ৳20,000 in taxes on 66 kg of dates and fruits that he had brought as gifts. Officers seized 25 kg of dates when he refused to pay. Tipu expressed his annoyance: ‘I was not questioned when I boarded at the airport in Jeddah. However, expatriates are often harassed back home. Gifts and personal items are mislabeled as business products to get bribes or exorbitant duties’.

The 12.5 million Bangladeshis living abroad are affected by this corruption, both inbound and outbound. Ahmed Hossain, a Saudi expat, reported that terminal harassment is intense and that customs, immigration, and police officers often demand money. He described a crucial strategy: ‘Corrupt personnel at departure lounge entrances claim an adverse intelligence report exists against them. Distressed travellers are then coerced into paying money under the guise of managing senior officials’. General travellers also complain that police purposefully misread baggage restrictions, unjustly weigh luggage, and levy imposed fines in order to extract bribes.

Aside from traveller extortion, the airport acts as a main transit point for organised smuggling syndicates that operate with internal cooperation. According to intelligence assessments, worldwide networks actively aid dishonest customs officers and constables in smuggling drugs and gold by taking advantage of luggage laws. Over the past five years, more than 2,233 kg of gold have been found at the airport, demonstrating the extent of illegal activity. A significant security breach happened in September 2023, when 55 kg of gold was taken straight from the airport’s protected customs facility, indicating pervasive institutional failure.

Harassment at the nation’s main airport persists despite years of media coverage, high-level instructions, Civil Aviation control, and intelligence surveillance. Customs Officer Md. Kamal said that officials are treating passenger harassment allegations with high priority and working to minimise them, in response to an inquiry concerning these widespread abuses. He went on to say that the relevant Minister has given instructions to raise service standards and is aware of the circumstances. However, persistent passenger complaints show that the terminal checkpoints have not yet fully implemented meaningful operational reforms.