Briton arrested over Bangladesh blogger murders

The Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion, back row, accompany suspects Touhidur Rahman, left, Sadek Ali, centre, and Aminul Mallick, right, who have been arrested for the murder of two prominent atheistShow more

DHAKA // Authorities in Bangladesh said Tuesday that they have arrested three men, including a British citizen, for their involvement in the murders of two secular bloggers.

The three men are suspected members of the Ansarullah Bangla Team, a banned militant group, said Maj Maksudul Alam, a spokesman for the country’s Rapid Action Battalion. Bangladesh banned the group in May after police accused it of threatening and killing bloggers and writers.

Maj Alam said one of the arrested men, Touhidur Rahman — a British citizen of Bangladeshi origin — was the mastermind and financier of the attacks on bloggers Avijit Roy and Ananta Bijoy Das, who were killed earlier this year.

The suspects were arrested Monday night in raids in Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, and appeared with authorities at a news briefing Tuesday.

Mufti Mahmud Khan, the head of the battalion’s media wing, told reporters that while Rahman was the main planner of the killings, another suspect who was arrested, Sadek Ali, acted as a bridge to communicate with Mufti Jasim Rahmani, the alleged head of the group.

Rahmani is currently in jail awaiting trial in the murder of another blogger, Ahmed Rajib Haider, in Dhaka in 2013.

“Ali often visited the prison to meet Rahmani for instructions,” Mr Khan said.

He said the third suspect, Aminul Mollick, was a broker at a passport office and helped members of the militant group make fake passports so that they could travel abroad if necessary.

The battalion did not allow the detainees to talk to reporters at the news briefing.

Rahman is an information technology expert and returned to Bangladesh from the United Kingdom in either 2011 or 2012. He then got in touch with Rahmani, who inspired him to work for the group, Mr Khan said.

“He is the main planner of all the recent killings of the bloggers,” he said.

* Agence France-Presse