B’desh man held in publisher murder

DHAKA : Bangladeshi detectives arrested the prime suspect in last year’s slaying of a publisher as authorities reinforced efforts to crush radical groups blamed for a recent spike in violence.

Separately, officials of an elite anti-crime agency arrested five more suspected radicals belonging to the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

Officials arrested Moinul Islam Shamim alias Samir alias Imran during a raid at Tongi near the capital Dhaka on Tuesday night, Monirul Islam, chief of a counter-terrorism unit, said on Wednesday. Police said he belonged to the banned Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), which has claimed responsibility for killing several atheist bloggers.

Police said Shamim admitted during interrogation that the group killed Faisal Arefin Deepan, owner of Jagriti Prokashoni publishing house, for releasing the books of Avijit Roy, a prominent Bangladeshi-American blogger and writer. Shamim was also a main organiser and trainer for the group, Islam said.

The 24-year-old man looked calm when he was produced before journalists during a news conference in Dhaka on Wednesday. Islam said Shamim used several aliases to dodge security officials.

Meanwhile, members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) said on Wednesday they had arrested five suspected Jamaatul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) members. Rasheduzzaman Rouf, the group’s acting chief for the southern region and a trainer of its women’s wing, was among those held, said RAB spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan. Rouf studied in Canada and returned to Bangladesh in 2012 and joined the JMB.