Bangladeshi authorities raid house of PIA country manager in Dhaka

KARACHI: Bangladeshi authorities conducted a raid on the house of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) country manager, Ali Abbas, in Dhaka three days ago.

According to sources in PIA, a raid was also conducted on a PIA flight which reached Dhaka from Karachi on Wednesday, as the plane was searched for two and a half hours.

In response to the attitude of Bangladeshi authorities, PIA cancelled its flight PK-266, originally scheduled to fly from Karachi to Dhaka today.

The reason for the raid given so far was that Ali Abbas was allegedly smuggling currencies as well as gold.

Airline sources said that a detailed house search took place while the country manager’s family was also harassed.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that he has returned along with his family to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam on Thursday said it had come to their knowledge that a raid has been conducted on the house of PIA appointed country manager in Dhaka.

Aslam said the High Commissioner of Bangladesh has been contacted and a reply from the Bangladesh Foreign Office is also awaited.

The FO spokesperson went on to say that no reason has been given to Pakistan so far regarding the raid.