Bangladesh releases Pakistanis who plotted attack on Indian mission

Bangladesh has handed over three Pakistanis, suspected of planning attacks on the Indian and the US missions in Dhaka, to the Pakistan embassy, a media report said.

Bangladesh has handed over three Pakistanis, suspected of planning attacks on the Indian and the US missions in Dhaka, to the Pakistan embassy, a media report said.

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Syed Abdul Kaiyum Azhari alias Sufian, 22, Mohammad Ashraf alias Zahid, 24, and Mohammad Monwar Ali, 30, were arrested for their suspected links to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a banned Pakistan-based group.

They were freed from prison on the directives of the home ministry.

"The jail authorities freed them following a negotiation between the foreign ministries of the two countries," Senior Superintendent of Dhaka Central Jail Towhidul Islam told The Daily Star.

"The assistant consular of the Pakistan embassy and a protocol officer received the three Pakistani men," the official said of the exchange that took place last Saturday.

The report said that a team of detectives arrested the Pakistanis on November 13 from the city's Uttara locality for their alleged affiliation with LeT in a plot to attack the US embassy and Indian high commission in Dhaka.

However, bdnews24.com, a news website, said that they were arrested in 2009 and one of them was recruiting local activists.