Plan to Attack US, Indian Missions
3 Pakistanis with 'Lashkar link' held
Three Pakistani nationals, held early yesterday for suspected link with a plot to attack the US embassy and Indian high commission in Dhaka, are taken on a two-day remand in the afternoon.StarStaff Correspondent
The Detective Branch of police arrested three Pakistanis with suspected links to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in Tongi and the city's Uttara early yesterday.
Later in the day, a Dhaka court placed them on a two-day remand each, allowing the detectives to quiz the two over the reported LeT plans to attack the US and Indian embassies in Dhaka.
The arrestees are Syed Abdul Kaiyum Azhari alias Sufian, 22, Mohammad Ashraf Alia Zahid, 24, and Mohammad Monwar Ali, 30.
Talking to The Daily Star, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner AKM Shahidul Hoque said, "We know a good number of Lashkar operatives are on a covert campaign to carry out subversive activities in Bangladesh. We however have no figure of how many of them are here."
He said of the arrestees, Sufian, a mechanical engineering graduate from Islamic Institute of Technology in Gazipur, had been organising LeT cadres on instructions from his bosses in Pakistan.
"He used to recruit youths for Lashkar and arrange training for them in different countries," Shahidul added.
The other two--diploma engineers--too had been working for the Pakistan-based militant group to spread its tentacles across the country.
“It's not possible for the Pakistani militants to operate here without the help from locals. Let us dig further to expose the entire LeT network, its financial sources and Bangladeshi patrons."
Assistant DB Commissioner Rafiqul Islam, who led the drives to net the Pakistan nationals, told The Daily Star, "We made the arrests following up information we had from the Bangladeshi LeT men arrested in Chittagong."
The DMP commissioner said the detained Pakistanis hold valid passports and visas, but they could not show any work permit and explain sources of funds for their living expenses.
Earlier on November 4, DB arrested Mufti Harun Izahar, Shahidul Islam and Al Amin alias Saiful.
Harun is son of Mufti Izaharul Islam Chowdhury, chief of an Islami Oikya Jote faction. Shahidul and Saiful are Harun's associates and former students of the IOJ boss's madrasa.
Our court correspondent adds: DB officials produced the Pakistani nationals before Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Ferdous Ara around 3:00pm. They sought a 10-day remand each for the three, but the court granted two days'.
Meanwhile, Mufti Harun and his two associates were sent to Dhaka Central Jail yesterday at the end of remand in two phases.
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