Dhaka, Jan 19 (IANS) At least four members of militant outfit Islamic State (IS) have been arrested from Dhaka, police claimed.
The Islamic State’s chief coordinator in Bangladesh was among the arrested, bdnews24.com quoted the Bangladesh police detective branch’s Deputy Commissioner Masudur Rahman as saying.
The four were identified as Shakhawatul Kabir, Anwar Hossain, Rabiul Islam and Nazrul Islam.
They were arrested from Dhaka’s Jatrabarhi and Khilkhet areas Monday. A laptop and IS leaflets have been recovered from them, added the police official.
Police inspector Abu Zafar said Kabir’s brother-in-law Shamim and Baten’s brother Sayem lived in Pakistan and they were members of IS.
The two had given Kabir the responsibility to work as IS chief coordinator in Bangladesh, Zafar said.
According to the official, Kabir had been frequently travelling to India, Pakistan and other countries.
In August last year, a video clip showing a group of Bangladesh nationals taking oath to organise Muslims under the leadership of IS chief Abu Bakr al Baghdadi surfaced online.
The video had footage of a group of five people taking a pledge to follow Al-Baghdadi. The video was uploaded on YouTube Aug 2.
Bangladesh intelligence had since focused on picking up traces of IS activities.