Three Bangladeshi nationals deported from Malaysia over their suspected involvement in militancy have been arrested and sent to jail in Bangladesh, reports bdnews24.com.
They were taken into custody by members of the Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) upon their arrival in the country on Friday.
Deputy Inspector General Akkas Uddin Bhuiyan, acting chief of the ATU, said the three were arrested under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) and produced before the court on the same day. The court subsequently ordered their detention in jail.
The process of filing cases against them is currently under way, he added.
Section 54 of the CrPC empowers police to arrest individuals without a warrant under specific circumstances, particularly when they are suspected of being involved in a cognisable offence (a crime for which a police officer can arrest someone without a warrant) or if the police have credible information supporting such suspicion.
When asked whether the trio had any criminal record in Bangladesh, DIG Akkas said authorities are still verifying their background as they were only recently deported.
He noted that Malaysian police had arrested 36 Bangladeshi nationals in a recent counterterrorism operation.
He added, of those, five have been formally charged, while investigations are ongoing against several others. The rest are in the process of being deported. The three men now in Bangladeshi custody are among those who were sent back.
Police have not disclosed the identities of the three deportees.
According to Malaysian authorities, the group of Bangladeshis arrested in the country was suspected of sending funds to Islamic State (IS) cells in Syria and Bangladesh.
On Friday, Malaysia's Inspector General of Police Mohd Khalid Ismail said that the arrests followed a series of operations conducted since April. Most of the suspects were employed in factory, construction, or service sectors.
Following a 2016 IS-linked attack in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has arrested hundreds of suspected militants, particularly in the Muslim-majority capital.
However, the number of such arrests has markedly declined in recent years due to stronger regional counterterrorism efforts.
Malaysia continues to rely heavily on foreign labour to fill shortages in its industrial, agricultural, and construction sectors, with a large number of Bangladeshi workers migrating to the country annually.
Citing intelligence findings, Ismail said that the Bangladeshi group had been recruiting new members from among fellow migrant workers and spreading extremist ideology via social media and messaging apps.
