KATHMANDU, Jan 17: Airports are considered to be safe places and air passengers travel around with their luggage on the trust of airport personnel. However, the security of the only international airport of Nepal, Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA), has come into question as money, goods, documents and other valuables have been disappearing from luggages from the airport itself.
Nitya Karki, who flew from Nepal to Bangladesh on January 11 on a Himalayan Airlines flight (flight number H9-678), reached the Dhaka Airport with her luggage in poor conditions. The USD 800, which she had placed inside her luggage was nowhere to be found and the lock of her luggage was broken as well. Nitya took the luggage and gave the details of the incident to the information officer of Dhaka Airport. The information officer also took immediate action and showed all the footage of the CCTV camera at the Dhaka Airport.
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“Nothing suspicious was found at the Dhaka Airport. I asked Navin Yadav, the coordinator of Nepali students studying in Bangladesh, to go to TIA and check what had happened,” she said. “Various goods such as food and phone chargers of my friends were taken from TIA by breaking the lock of their luggages. We came to Bangladesh to study medicine but as our money is lost now, we are in trouble.”
Similarly, student coordinator Navin Yadav said that even a CCTV camera was not working when he went to the airport to find out about the incident.
“I talked to the personal assistant of the tourism minister and he also investigated the incident. However, it did not come to any conclusion,” said Yadav. He also complained that the CCTV camera of the TIA was not even in proper condition. “The security system of the airport seems really weak.”
He further added, “We have come to know that luggage of not only students but also many passengers are destroyed in the airport and the security system seems very poor. Even major crimes are likely to occur if there is no change in the security system.”
Nitya has even lodged a written complaint at Himalaya Airlines about the incident.
