Bangladesh security forces said yesterday they had arrested the head of a British charity linked to a huge cache of weapons and bomb-making equipment uncovered at a religious school last month.
Faisal Mustafa, 45, a UK citizen who owns the London-based Green Crescent charity, was picked up from Gazipur, 40km north of Dhaka, deputy chief of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) Colonel Rezaur Rahman Khan said.
“Faisal and the local coordinator of the charity were arrested early Monday morning. They are suspected of using the Green Crescent-owned madrassah for militant training and making bombs,” he said.
RAB officers raided the Islamic seminary, or madrassah, on the remote southern island of Bhola late last month, uncovering firearms, ammunition and explosive devices.
Bangladesh police say the madrassah was used as mini bomb factory.
Bangladeshi authorities have long viewed madrassahs with suspicion, fearing they could be potential recruiting grounds for Islamic militant groups.
The Charity Commission, which regulates charities in the UK, announced it would investigate the extent of the alleged links between Green Crescent and the arms haul.
Jihadi literature was also found during the raid, including books that encouraged Muslims to take up arms.
The Bangladesh authorities are currently investigating dozens of Muslim charities in the impoverished country over allegations they are funding extremists.
The probe was launched after a mutiny at a military base in Dhaka in late February in which Islamic extremists were suspected to have played a role.
More than 70 people were killed, including at least 56 senior army officers, in the revolt at the Bangladesh Rifles headquarters.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
RSS