3 LeT members remanded

Dhaka, Oct 4 (bdnews24.com) — The Detective Branch of Police have taken the three suspected members of Pakistan-based militant outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) in custody for two days.

The Dhaka's Third Additional Chief Magistrate Mohammad Ali Hossain granted the remand of Mohammad Selim alias Khurram, Abdul Malek and 'Imran', who were having Pakistani passports.

They were arrested in a drive by the DB Police who on a tip-off a team of the city raided Hotel Imperial on Saturday afternoon suspecting transaction of a lot of forged currencies of various countries.

Upon interrogation at the DB headquarters Selim introduced himself as also Khurram, a suspect that the DB had been looking for since last year, he said.

Last year the DB had arrested three other LeT members, Obaidullah, Sufian, and Emdadullah, who told police that they had had come into Bangladesh with the help of one Khurram, he said.

Islan said they are suspecting that the Khurram is custody was the same one they were looking for.

Khurram, however, said on Monday he didn't know anyone from the LeT. He claimed that he was a cigarette trader who imported cigarettes from Pakistan and sold it in Bangladesh.

He added that he was fondly called Khurram even though his name was Mohammad Selim. Khurram said that he was a Karachi resident and that he regularly travelled between Pakistan and Bangladesh through Hazrat Shajalal International Airport.

Islam, however, claimed that Khurram had been maintaining relations with and coordinating various militant exercises with the LeT. The police officer alleged that Khurram had abetted militant outfits financially to commit various crimes with forged currency.

Of the three arrestees, Khurram's passport was somewhat fishy, he said, adding that Khurram's passport had been issued this year and that he travelled extensively between Bangladesh and Pakistan under the passport each month, he said.

Islam suspected about Khurram's true identity as questions whether he was a Pakistani or an Indian.

It was alleged that, up until the raid, the group had presumably transacted forged currencies worth around Tk 10 millions among themselves.

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