Bangladesh arrests five Islamists with Pakistan links

A Bangladeshi court on Monday ordered five Islamist militants, including a Pakistan national, accused of having links to Pakistani intelligence to be remanded in police custody after their arrest here.

Police said they obtained orders of Metropolitan Magistrate’s court for interrogating the five for three days in their custody while initial investigations suggested the Islamists were all members of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

“All the five JMB members visited Pakistan several times. (One of them) Mohammad Idris alone visited Pakistan 48 times and has contacts with a foreign intelligence agency,” a police spokesman said adding that plainclothesmen tracked them down late on Sunday in raids in different parts of Dhaka.

He said initial police investigations found they were trying to create anarchy and panic by hacking attacks on several secular bloggers and writers.

“Idris went to Pakistan via India in 1985 and married a Pakistani woman in 1990 and he told us that he also took part in 2002 general elections there but returned to Bangladesh in 2007 and joined the militant outfit JMB,” the spokesman said adding that Idris is a Pakistani passport holder.