LeT mastermind targeting IHC held in Dhaka

Dhaka: Bangladeshi security forces on Sunday arrested a top operative of Pakistan-based LeT, who is suspected to be a mastermind in the terror plot targeting the Indian High Commission and US embassy here, officials said.

Mohammad Motalem alias Majnu, a suspected Bangladeshi operative of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), was arrested from the capital's Motijheel area in line with confessional statement of three Pakistani LeT operatives arrested two weeks ago, officials said.

"We arrested Mohammad Motalem, alias Majnu, in line with the confessional statement of the three Pakistani LeT operatives," said Mr Monirul Islam, the deputy commissioner of police of the Detective Branch.

"We suspect him to be a mastermind of a plot to carry out an attack on the Indian High Commission and US embassy in Dhaka," he said.

He said the 44-year-old suspected militant was remanded to custody for four days under an order from the Dhaka Metropolitan Magistrate Court for interrogation.

The deputy commissioner said Majnu, during initial interrogation, confessed that he was entrusted with the task to recruit LeT operatives in Bangladesh and arrange their passage to Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

"He confessed that he participated in the Afghan resistance against the Soviet forces in late 1980s," the police chief said.