More than 50 religious extremists of Pakistan and India are active in militant activities in Bangladesh with blessing from the banned Islamist outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al Islami (HuJi), police intelligence sources said.
All the foreign religious extremists so far arrested are leaders or activists of the Kashmir-based militant outfits Asif Reza Commando Force (ARCF), or Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), which are working together with similar organisations in Bangladesh.
'Arrested militants have confessed to us that more than 50 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) or Asif Reza Commando Force are active in Bangladesh,' deputy commissioner of Detective Branch police, Monirul Islam told New Age.
Law enforcers arrested six Indian nationals and three Pakistanis on suspicion of religious extremism and subversive acts inside Bangladesh since May 27 this year. All the arrested are members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is blamed for the Mumbai attack.
DB police arrested Pakistani nationals Saiyed Abdul Kaiyum Azhari alias Sufian, 22, Mohammad Ashraf alias Zahid, 24, and Mohammad Monowar Ali alias Monowar, 30 early Friday in connection with plotting attacks on US Embassy and Indian High Commission in Dhaka.
Police arrested them getting clues from three local members of LeT Mufti Harun Izahar, Shahidul Islam Suzon and Al Amin alias Saiful who were arrested in Chittagong on November 3.
Police earlier held Indian nationals Abdul Rauf alias Daud Merchant and his accomplice Zahid Hasan in Brahmanbaria on May 27 and their associate Arif on June 6 in Mohammadpur area of Dhaka. Daud Merchant is a relative of mafia don Daud Ibrahim and a key accused in the killing of Mumbai-based music baron Gulshan Kumar.
Though law enforcers detained several LeT operatives in the past, they admitted the outfit's existence in Bangladesh only after the DB arrested Sheikh Obaidullah alias Mahbub on July 16.
Based on the confessional statements of Obaidullah, lawmen arrested Maulana Mansur Ali alias Habibullah from Dakkhin Khan Area in the capital on July 20.
Obaidullah and Mansur disclosed that their organisation had been active in Bangladesh for the last 14 years.
They also said local LeT operatives have links with the network of absconding Indian underworld don Daud Ibrahim and leaders of HuJI in Bangladesh.
They claimed that they had been teaching at local madrassahs since their illegal entrance to Bangladesh in 1995.
They confessed that their associates and four other most-wanted Indians are also hiding in Bangladesh since long.
The DB arrested Emdadullah alias Mahbub, branded as Bangladesh chapter chief of LeT and Harkatul Zihadia Islamia Azadia of Pakistan and Asif Reza Commando Force of India, on October 1.
Police intelligence hoped that they would be able to make headway towards unearthing the outfit's political patrons in Bangladesh once they capture some other LeT men in the country.
A high official of the investigation team told New Age, 'Arrested Pakistani national Sufian admitted that the outfit permanently rented a residence in Uttara, Sector-9, where he had been staying since long and which is used as hideout for all the foreign militants sent to Bangladesh on special assignments.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque earlier said, 'We have no figure of how many of them are here but we know a good number of LeT operatives are on a campaign to carry out subversive activities in Bangladesh.' source: the Daily New Age
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