24 'militant' youths held at ZIA prior to flying to Kabul
Tuesday, 7 August 2007
A band of 24 young men were arrested at Zia International Airport (ZIA) as 'suspected militants' when they were about to fly for Afghanistan through India Monday, immigration sources said, reports UNB.
The suspects, all in the 15-20 age group and of Bangladeshi origin, were scheduled to board a private (GMG) airliner at 11:00 am to fly for Kabul by making stopover at Kolkata and New Delhi airports in India.
Immigration Police told reporters that they were held as the detainees could not give "satisfactory" answers and also for their suspicious movement.
Later, the arrested persons were handed over to the Airport police for further investigation.
"Since they were travelling to Afghanistan and they could not give any satisfactory answers about the purpose of their visit, we suspected they might have links with militant organisations. Otherwise, why they should be travelling to war-torn Kabul," a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
The officer could not say which militant outfit the arrested persons could belong to. " We'll not call them militants, but we suspect them to be militants."
Bangladesh government earlier had rounded up hundreds of militants of Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh (JMB) after serial bombings in the country's 63 district headquarters on August 17, 2004 that left three people dead and scores wounded.
The banned outfit, JMB, later on staged series of blasts by their suicide squads killing lawyers and police in their bid to establish so-called Islamic rule in Bangladesh.
Six JMB kingpins, including its supremo Shaikh Abdur Rahman and second-in-command Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, were hanged on March 29 this year for killing two judges in Jhalakati in a suicide bomb attack in 2005.
The suspects, all in the 15-20 age group and of Bangladeshi origin, were scheduled to board a private (GMG) airliner at 11:00 am to fly for Kabul by making stopover at Kolkata and New Delhi airports in India.
Immigration Police told reporters that they were held as the detainees could not give "satisfactory" answers and also for their suspicious movement.
Later, the arrested persons were handed over to the Airport police for further investigation.
"Since they were travelling to Afghanistan and they could not give any satisfactory answers about the purpose of their visit, we suspected they might have links with militant organisations. Otherwise, why they should be travelling to war-torn Kabul," a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
The officer could not say which militant outfit the arrested persons could belong to. " We'll not call them militants, but we suspect them to be militants."
Bangladesh government earlier had rounded up hundreds of militants of Jamaatul Mujaheedin Bangladesh (JMB) after serial bombings in the country's 63 district headquarters on August 17, 2004 that left three people dead and scores wounded.
The banned outfit, JMB, later on staged series of blasts by their suicide squads killing lawyers and police in their bid to establish so-called Islamic rule in Bangladesh.
Six JMB kingpins, including its supremo Shaikh Abdur Rahman and second-in-command Siddiqul Islam Bangla Bhai, were hanged on March 29 this year for killing two judges in Jhalakati in a suicide bomb attack in 2005.