Legal notice seeks live CCTV of airport baggage handling

A legal notice has been issued demanding live CCTV broadcasting of the entire baggage-handling process at airports to prevent the theft of passengers’ luggage.

Supreme Court advocate Md Mahmudul Hasan Mamun served the legal notice in the public interest on Monday.
The notice was sent to the secretary of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, the chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh, the chairman of the Anti-Corruption Commission, the managing director and chief executive officer of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, and the directors and managers of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, Chattogram Shah Amanat International Airport, Sylhet Osmani International Airport, and the airports in Cox’s Bazar, Saidpur, Rajshahi, Jashore and Barishal.

The notice said airports are Bangladesh’s sovereign gateways to the international arena. Yet, for a long time, ordinary passengers arriving in and departing from the country, tourists, foreign diplomats and businesspeople, and particularly expatriate workers who earn remittances for Bangladesh, have been falling victim to baggage theft.

According to the notice, an organised group operating during the period between the removal of luggage from the aircraft’s cargo hold and its arrival at the conveyor belt regularly cuts open passengers’ locked baggage and steals or snatches valuable items, including mobile phones, laptops, gold jewellery and cash. The notice said such acts directly violate the fundamental right to property guaranteed under Article 42 of the Constitution and the right to a dignified life guaranteed under Article 32.

The notice further said ground-handling workers and loaders are able to carry out these crimes without obstruction by exploiting inadequate surveillance on the runway and in baggage-sorting areas, as well as areas without CCTV coverage, known as blind spots.

It said full transparency must therefore be ensured throughout the baggage transportation process to permanently dismantle the theft syndicate. The entire process: from unloading baggage from the aircraft’s cargo section, loading it onto trolleys and moving it across the ramp area to placing it on the baggage belt, must be brought under high-quality closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance and broadcast live on large screens in the arrival lounge in front of passengers.

The notice strongly criticised corruption in the recruitment of airport workers, saying that if an employee secures a job through bribery or corruption, honesty and dedication can never be expected from that person.

The notice requested that within the next 10 days, the necessary administrative and legal measures be taken to introduce live CCTV broadcasting of baggage handling at all airports in the country, ensure that baggage searches are conducted openly, and have the Anti-Corruption Commission oversee implementation of a transparent recruitment process.

Otherwise, the notice said, a writ petition would be filed in the High Court Division of the Supreme Court in the public interest.