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Bangladesh police arrest 3 suspects in bloggers’ murders

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

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

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.

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

Authorities said 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 militant group.

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

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

Associated press