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Passengers harassed at ZIA on false currency grounds

By Sabir Mustafa
A number of bona fide travellers with confirmed tick eta on the Dhaka-Bangkok Seoul route are being routinely harassed and refused permit ston to embark, possibly Illegally by Immigration officers at Zia International Airport, a senior official of a major for elgn airline said In Dhaka Wednesday
Speaking anonymously to The Daily Star the official said that Seoul bound passengers with valid tickets and other relevant documents were being told by Immigration offi cers that they needed to carry US*2.000 In foreign currency with them In order to embark
For the past several weeks, an average of 55 ticket holders of one airline alone have been off loaded by ZIA Immigration for falling to show •2,000
This is totally strange be cause Bangladesh Bank rule says a passer.grr ran only carry • 1,200 at a lime and a total of • 1.800 In the course of a whole year," the airline official solrl
The official said Immigra-
tion officers refer to a "Home Ministry circular" which, according to them, prohibits travel to Seoul unless the pas eenger can show *2.000
The Ministry of Home Affairs, hosvever. denied that any such circular had been la-sued. the official said Bang ladesh Bank, which Is the principal authority regulating foreign exchange, also confirmed that the maximum for eign currency allowed to ■ traveller Is *1.200. and not •2.000
The airline official said that passengers coming back to demand refunds did not have any markings on their pass ports by the ZIA Immigration, as should be the case for offloaded passengers
'According to existing rules. Immigration officers are supposed to mark on thetr passports the reasons for thetr being off loaded, like Invalid ticket lack of visa, foreign currency or whatever." he told the Star
The official feared that a racket may be at work to deny bona fide passengers with confirmed tickets their right to embark.
"We have Information that once these seats are made vacant In this illegal manner, they are then filled up with passengers kept on the waiting list, with these stand-by pas sengers paying extra money In cash to the racketeers for the privilege, the official said
In addition to causing immense sufferings to passengers who buy their tickets in the legal market, this practice at ZIA is causing problems for travel agents and airlines oper ating offices in Dhaka, the offi ctal. whose airline to one of the sufferers, said