Three Pak militants arrested in Bangladesh

Dhaka: Three operatives of Pakistani Taliban have been arrested in Bangladesh and a laptop containing bomb making information has been seized from their possession, police here said today. The trio – Osman, Mehmud and Fakhrul – were arrested last night from the capital. Police claim they are members of banned militant outfit Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “We arrested the three last night from in front of the Shilpakala Academy premises… they confessed they were recruits of the TTP,” Dhaka  Metropolitan Police spokesman Monirul Islam told reporters. Islam said during the initial interrogations, police found that they were Myanmar-born Pakistani nationals and were “planning to launch their activities in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhaine state with their expertise to prepare high-powered explosives”. [caption id=“attachment_1349013” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Agencies.[/caption] “We are yet to know the details of their plans, but it seems from the initial interrogations that there are people inside Bangladesh who offered them shelters,” Islam said. “It also appears that they came to Bangladesh with a ‘jihad mission’ ahead of the elections… but their organisation later planned to send them to Myanmar”. Police said they have seized a laptop containing some “important evidence”. The trio, aged between 25 and 50, will be produced before a court later today and the police will seek their custody for further interrogations. Police said the three detained Pakistanis were also arrested in Bangladesh earlier but were released on bail. Law enforcement agencies earlier said LeT and several other militant groups were still active in Bangladesh. The militants use Bangladesh for transit to neighbouring India. PTI