A four-member advance team of United States Air Force (USAF), sent to Dhaka ahead of the arrival of “heavy cargo” in the days to come, flew into Shah Jalal International Airport on May 8 on a Qatar Airways flight (number OR-641), information accessed by Northeast News shows.
Northeast News reported on May 8 (Thursday) that the USAF personnel — Tara Lynn Alexzandria Stryder, Director of Logistics, Logistics, Supply Chain and Planning, who is also a “combat mission support commander”, defence contractor David Thomas Reifenber, a Product Sales Manager with DFS Group Limited, Michael Cody Thacker, Senior Director – Fleet Operations, Logistics, Fleet Management, and Staff Sergeant Martin Lucas Vannorsdall – checked into Westin Hotel into Gulshan neighbourhood after their arrival in Dhaka.
Bangladesh security service sources said that the USAF officers, all said to be contracted with the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), may have been based out of Al Udeid air base, which is 65 kms southwest of Doha.
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Al Udeid air base, sometimes called Abu Nakhla Airport, is home to numerous military assets and coalition forces. Originally established in 2000, Al Udeid serves as the headquarters and logistics base for US operations in Iraq and also includes the longest air landing strip in the Gulf region.
In addition to housing the USAF’s 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, Al Udeid also serves as the home base for the US Central Command and No. 83 Group RAF of the Royal Air Force. The 379th Air Expeditionary Wing plays a vital role in providing combat airpower and essential functions such as aeromedical evacuation and intelligence support across multiple theatres of operation.
It may be recalled that Bangladesh Army chief General Waker-uz-Zaman went on a two-day visit to Qatar on May 3. He was accompanied by Brigadier General Gholam Mohiuddin Ahmed, Director of the Ordnance Organisation Directorate. Earlier, Brig Gen Ahmed was the commander of the Bandarban-based 69th Infantry Brigade. They flew on Qatar Airways flight (number QA-639).
Bangladesh security service sources said that the four USAF personnel will be in Dhaka till such time that a cargo plane carrying “large containers” arrives at Shaha Jalal International Airport. Already, a separate airside location has been earmarked for the cargo, which might contain “lethal supplies” aimed for despatch by road to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
Previously, smaller “crates” arrived as part of a “diplomatic bag”, the sources said, adding that these “may already have been despatched clandestinely” across the border into Arakan Army-controlled territories in the Rakhine State.
