Drone spotted over hotel that housed Indian president, mystery unearthed
Police have unearthed the mystery of a drone that was spotted over a hotel during then Indian president Ram Nath Kovind’s Dhaka visit in 2021.
A police official with the knowledge over the matter said a college student of the city’s Segunbagicha area flew the drone and he had no ill intention behind it.
Ram Nath Kovind, Indian president at the time, came to Dhaka on a three-day visit to attend the joint celebration of ‘Mujib Year’ and the Golden jubilee of independence on 15 December, 2021.
During his stay at the city’s Intercontinental Hotel, security forces detected the drone hovering over the hotel on 16 December.
Assistant superintendent of police Imranul Islam, an assistant director of Special Security Force (SSF), took prompt action after sensing a ‘possible drone attack’.
The government recently rewarded the ASP with a President's Police Medal (PPM-Service) for spotting the presence of an unidentified drone. SSF is a law enforcement agency that provides protection to the president, prime minister and persons designated as Very Important Person (VIP) by the state.
Imranul Islam is still working with the SSF. The citation printed in the police book published on Police Week-2023 mentioned the incident as the reason behind Imranul’s PPM award.
The matter came to notice after that. Police officials said the matter was not made public earlier considering the sensitivity of the security issue of a VIP person such as Indian president.
A general diary was filed with Ramna police station over spotting and neutralizing the drone.
Monirul Islam was the officer-in-charge (OC) of Ramna at that time. He is now inspector of cyber crime department of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP). He told Prothom Alo on Sunday afternoon that an official of National Security Intelligence (NSI) filed the GD.
Investigating the incident, police detained a college student of Segunbagicha area. The student admitted that he flew the drone gifted by his maternal uncle. He said he did not have any ill intention behind flying the drone. Later police released him and dismissed the GD.