Bangladesh arrests 3 suspected killers of Italian citizen

Police in Bangladesh’s capital said Monday they arrested four suspects in last month’s killing of an Italian citizen in the country.

Police in Bangladesh’s capital said Monday they arrested four suspects in last month’s killing of an Italian citizen in the country.

This photo taken on October 14, 2015 shows workers carrying the coffin containing Italian citizen Cesare Tavella, who was shot to death on September 28 by unidentified assailants, from the morgue at the Dhaka Medical College in Dhaka.(AFP File)

Italian aid worker Cesare Tavella was killed by assailants while returning home on foot after jogging on the streets of Dhaka’s Gulshan diplomatic area.

Asaduzzaman Mia, Dhaka metropolitan police commissioner, told a news briefing on Monday that authorities arrested three men suspected of carrying out the killing, as well as the owner of a motorcycle suspected of being used in the attack.

“We have arrested the killers -- Russel Chowdhury, Minhajul Abedin Russel, Tamjid Ahmed Rubel, and the bike owner Shakhawat Hossain in raids in Dhaka,” he said as the arrested suspects were produced before reporters.

Asaduzzaman said the suspects said they were hired by “a big brother” to kill Tavella, who was not a specific target, to “destabilize the country” and “put the government under pressure globally”.

After the September 28 murder, the Islamic State group claimed the responsibility but Asaduzzman again rejected that.

“It’s just a cover up, a certain quarter is behind it, you can understand who wants to benefit from creating chaos,” he said without naming any party.

“We are trying to arrest that so-called big brother who hired them to kill just a white foreigner. We are yet to recover the arms used in the killing, we are working on that,” he said.