State minister questions authenticity of MV Abdullah ransom video

State Minister of Shipping Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury has questioned the authenticity of a video showing an aircraft dropping three bags of money that is circulating on social media and being labelled as the ransom paid for the rescue of the sailors of the MV Abdullah.

He reiterated that the government did not have information on the ransom paid for the MV Abdullah and its crew.

"I don't know which movie the clips are from,” he said. “We see so many scenes like these in films. I don't know how the clips were edited or combined to create the video," the state minister said while speaking to the media on Sunday.

The MV Abdullah and its crew were captured by Somali pirates on Mar 12. The ship was finally freed from captivity on Apr 14 and is headed towards Dubai with all 23 Bangladeshi sailors on board.

Meanwhile, a video allegedly showing the moments before the release of the Bangladeshi sailors has begun spreading on social media.

It shows the sailors lined up on the deck with a small aircraft hovering around the ship.

The pirates take up positions in front of the ship on two speedboats. One voice is heard asking the sailors to raise their hands. Another voice is then heard saying something in Somali.

The aircraft drops three bags in the water, and the pirates on the speedboats picked them up one by one. They cheered every time a bag was dropped. After dropping the last bag, the aircraft turned around and left.

A voice on the ship is then heard telling the sailors in English: "You are free. You can go."

Reuters and the Somali media have reported that a Tk 5 million ransom was paid, but SR Shipping CEO Meherul Kabir – the owners of the vessel - did not give comment on the matter.

Neither the government nor any official from Kabir Group have acknowledged paying a ransom for the release of the ship and its crew.

Speaking of the video, the state minister said, "I knew that people throw litter into the water. I did not know that they drop expensive things [dollars] into the water."

According to State Minister Khalid, the MV Abdullah and its crew will arrive in Dubai on Apr 19 or Apr 20. Whether they will then head back to Bangladesh is still to be decided.

"The ship authorities will decide whether they wish to continue with the contract and how the sailors will return. But I heard that the ship owners said that the sailors will be flown to Bangladesh if they want to. They are probably also working on finding their replacements in that case," said State Minister Khalid.

"We are a C-category member of the IMO [International Maritime Organisation]. We will make a proposal to the 174 countries who are a part of the IMO, asking them how we can keep our sea routes safe," he added.