Three Pakistani Taliban militants have been arrested in Bangladesh and remanded to a 13-day custody today after a bomb making manual and a laptop with information on military training was seized from them.
The Myanmar-born Pakistani trio -- Osman, Mehmud and Fakhrul -- aged between 25 and 50, were arrested last night from the capital, police said.
Police said they are members of banned militant outfit Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
"A bomb-making manual and a laptop containing information on military training were seized from them," Dhaka Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
"We arrested the three last night from in front of the Shilpakala Academy premises...They confessed they were recruits of the TTP," Dhaka Metropolitan Police spokesman Monirul Islam told reporters.
"They have special trainings in car bombs. They took training on grenade and IEDs from the main trainers of the TTP in Pakistan's territory of Waziristan," Islam said.
He said during initial interrogations, police found that they were Myanmar-born Pakistani nationals and were "planning to launch their activities in Myanmar's troubled Rakhaine state with their expertise to prepare high-powered explosives".
"We are yet to know the details of their plans, but it seems from the initial interrogation that there are people inside Bangladesh who offered them shelter," Islam said.
"It also appears that they came to Bangladesh with a 'jihad mission' ahead of the elections... But their organisation later planned to send them to Myanmar".
The trio was today remanded to a 13-day custody by Metropolitan Magistrate Shahriar Mahmud Adnan in connection with two cases - one filed over illegal trespass and another under anti-terrorism act.
Police said the three detained Pakistanis were also arrested in Bangladesh earlier but were released on bail.
Law enforcement agencies earlier said LeT and several other militant groups were still active in Bangladesh.
The militants use Bangladesh for transit to neighbouring India.
