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COUNTER TERRORISM

3 airports come under permanent Rab watch

JULFIKAR ALI MANIK, from Sylhet
The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) will be posted to three international airports as permanent antiterrorist forces to ensure security of air passengers, a move that came in the wake of recent anonymous bomb threats.
"We have taken the decision but need some time to deploy them," Inspector General of Police (IGP) Shahudul Haque told The Daily Star yesterday.
"Our main task will be to check terrorist activities at the airports. We will act as additional forces to help other agencies stop trafficking, smug-
gling and forgery at the airports," said Colonel Gulzaruddin Ahmed, Rab commanding officer in Sylhet.
Rab director-level officers and the commanding officer made a recce at Osmani International Airport yesterday to decide number of forces and their posting points, a day after an unknown caller threatened that bombs secreted at the third largest airport in Bangladesh would blow up a Biman airbus from London.
"I hope we will deploy Rab at Sylhet Airport in a month," Gulzar said.
The antiterrorist forces might be deployed at two other international
airports such as Zia International Airport (ZIA) in Dhaka and Shah Amanat Airport in Chittagong at the same time, Rab officials said.
Rab officers made a recce at ZIA a month ago and are soon to work at Shah Amanat Airport.
The bomb threat that proved a hoax came after a car bomb killed Awami League leader Mohammad Ibrahim in Sylhet on Saturday night and twin blasts in cinema halls killed a street boy on August 6, underlining security concern in the northeastern city.
The airports returned to normal yesterday, but sharp security watch
continued at all airports with deployment of paramilitary forces and additional police along with officials of Rab, Directorate General of Forces Intelligence, National Security Intelligence and Special Branch.
On tackling telephone threats to airports, a senior Rab official said: "We plan to set up call identification telephones there."
"The authorities will design the work pattern of the antiterrorist forces keeping in mind that the terrorists use international airports as their channels. The teams will be provided with modern equipment," Gulzar said.