AI-based digital surveillance has been deployed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and two other international airports in Bangladesh to help prevent suspects in serious crimes from fleeing abroad. The system, operational since August 5, 2024, combines AI-powered CCTV cameras, facial-recognition technology and highly sensitive gold-detection equipment. Security sources said authorities can provide a suspect’s photograph to airport agencies, allowing the system to match the face and alert security officers when the person enters an airport.

The facial-recognition system covers sensitive locations including arrival and departure terminals, boarding bridges, immigration counters and the cargo village. It is intended to identify people attempting to leave without passports or using different identity documents. The AI system can also issue automatic alerts when a person behaves unusually for an extended period or when an abandoned object is detected.

Authorities said modern gold-detection machines can identify small metal objects and gold concealed in clothing or inside the body, including material hidden as liquid or paste. Civil Aviation Authority member for security Air Commodore Asif Iqbal said government agencies use advanced equipment with their own funding and have achieved notable success over the past two to two-and-a-half years. Airport Executive Director Group Captain S M Ragib Samad said agencies maintain round-the-clock monitoring with high-tech equipment.