Bangladesh Arrests Briton over 'IS Jihad Recruitment'
Bangladesh police said Monday they have arrested a British citizen suspected of entering the country to recruit militants for jihadist groups overseas such as the Islamic State organization.
Officers said Samiun Rahman, a 24-year-old Londoner of Bangladeshi origin, was picked up from a railway station in the capital around midnight on Sunday.
"During primary interrogation, he told police he was staying in Bangladesh to recruit jihadists for the IS and Nusra brigade (an affiliate of Al-Qaida)," Dhaka metropolitan police said in a statement.
"He took part in fighting in Syria from September to December last year as a member of Nusra brigade," Dhaka police spokesman Masudur Rahman told AFP, adding that Rahman had traveled to Syria with a friend from Britain.
He said Rahman, alias Ibn Hamdan, planned to send Bangladeshi militants to Syria and also wanted to set up an Al-Qaida network inside Bangladesh and neighboring Myanmar.
Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahiri announced plans earlier this month to launch a South Asian branch of the militant network.
Just last week, two other suspected militants were arrested for allegedly attempting to set up an Al-Qaida network in Bangladesh.
Asif Adnan, 24, and Fazle Elahi Tanzil, 26, were members of the local Ansarullah Bangla Team, blamed for the murder last year of a blogger who was critical of Islam.
Several banned Islamist militant groups operate in Bangladesh and have been blamed for a series of deadly attacks since the late 1990s. But none of them have been linked to Al-Qaida.
Rahman, dressed in a long robe, was paraded before the media at a police press briefing.
Police said he was born in London.
"He came here as he thought it was possible to send people from Bangladesh (to Syria)," said Dhaka police joint commissioner Monirul Islam.
Source: Agence France Presse
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