‘B’desh jihadis have Indian, Pakistani links’

By Saleem Samad

DHAKA: The law enforcement agency of Bangladesh believes that the suspected Islamic militants arrested from a frontier town in northern Bangladesh have “links with Indian and Pakistani terrorist networks”.

Police on Tuesday arrested five suspects of an Islamic militant outfit, Jama’atul Mujaheedin, in a predawn raid on a training camp in Chapainawabganj. The home ministry ordered to interrogate the five suspects at the Joint Interrogation Cell in Dhaka, claim the police sources.

“The suspects admit they are members of a militant group and the camp was used as one of their training centres,” said Superintendent Police Nawsher Ali, adding: “We are trying to trace out people who are behind the clandestine training of militants.”

Sources believe the militants were planning to bomb a month-long ceremony of the Chapainawabganj Municipality’s golden jubilee. The festivity is scheduled to begin on March 16.

Police also believe that the suspects are linked with the Islamic militants of India and Pakistan, as they were carrying some toll receipts on the letterhead of the Allama Abdullah Ibn Fazal Trust of Kashimnagar, located in the neighbouring Indian state of West Bengal.

They are also convinced that the suspects were also running a business of arms and ammunitions “since some unidentified people carrying several bags of explosives left the camp at night”.

The investigators have also found the addresses of as many as 180 people. These addresses are saved on a cell phone in nine languages including Spanish and Arabic. “The administration is dealing with the case seriously,” said Deputy Commissioner Nurul Haque while talking to a correspondent of Daily Star.

He said that the police was trying to locate other members of the outfit using the digitised address book and would take severe action against the militants.

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