Woman made hoax bomb call to stop married son’s Nepal trip with 'lover': RAB

Three people, including the woman and her daughter-in-law, have been arrested over the incident

A woman made a false claim about a bomb onboard a Biman Bangladesh Airlines aircraft to stop her married son from flying to Nepal with his "lover", according to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB).

The bomb alert, which led to the grounding of the Kathmandu-bound flight just moments before takeoff from Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport, was later found to be false.

The RAB revealed the motive behind the hoax at a media briefing in Karwan Bazar on Saturday.

RAB Director-General AKM Shahidul Rahman said three people, the woman, her daughter-in-law, and another person, have been detained in connection with the incident. Her son, identified as Kamruzzaman Imon, had already left for Nepal with his paramour.

"Preliminary investigation suggests that a man was travelling to Kathmandu with his extramarital partner," the RAB chief said. "His wife and mother found out. Acting on information from one of his friends, the mother called air traffic control and falsely claimed there was a bomb on the flight."

He added that the mother made the call in a desperate attempt to prevent her son from travelling to Nepal with the woman.

Following the anonymous tip-off, the Boeing 737-800 flight was halted just before takeoff on Friday evening. A thorough search of the aircraft lasted nearly three hours.

ABM Raoshan Kabir, Biman’s general manager of public relations, said the flight was scheduled to depart at 4:45pm.

"The aircraft was taxiing toward the runway after boarding was complete when the control tower received an anonymous phone call claiming that a bomb had been placed on the flight. Takeoff was immediately cancelled."

All passengers were safely disembarked and screened before being taken to the terminal lounge. The airport's bomb disposal unit conducted a full search but found no explosive devices.

After the security clearance, the flight departed for Nepal later that night.

RAB chief Shahidul said the phone number used for the bomb threat was tracked after nothing was found on the plane. A joint RAB and Army team then conducted a raid at a residence in Dhaka's Madhya Dakshinkhan neighbourhood.

They arrested the mother, Rasheda Begum, her daughter-in-law Tahmina, and a man named Imran. All three are currently in RAB custody.