Bangladesh Orphanage Run by British Charity Was Being Used as Training Camp for Islamist Militants
March 26th, 2009Via: Guardian:
An orphanage run by a British charity in Bangladesh has been raided by local security forces who claim it was being used as a training camp and arms factory for Islamist militants.
The anti-terrorism Rapid Action Battalion said today that it had arrested four people, including a teacher and three caretakers, and was searching for the head of the charity, a British citizen known as Faisal.
The arrests came after a raid yesterday on the Green Crescent madrasa and orphanage on the remote southern island of Bhola, Lieutenant Colonel Munir Haque, an officer involved in the operation, said. The charity’s headquarters is thousands of miles away in the town of Stockport, south of Manchester.
“We found small arms ? about nine or 10 in total ? plus equipment to make small arms, about 3,000 rounds of ammunition, two walkie-talkies, two remote control devices and four sets of army uniforms,” Haque said.
“We also found enough explosives and other equipment to make several hundred grenades. We found some ordinary Islamic books, but others that are in line with extremists like Bin Laden.”
He said that there were about 11 children between the ages of seven and eight at the compound at the time of the raid, but no other adults.
Locals told the officers that the madrasa, or Islamic seminary, was a British charity financed by Faisal, who they said had lived in Britain for 25 years.
Green Crescent’s website showed that it was involved in projects in Bhola, as well as several others around Bangladesh and at least one in Pakistan.
Students in Britain and Bangladesh founded the British-registered charity in 1998, the site says.
KM Mamunur Rashid, another officer involved in the raid, said the charity had plans to build two more madrasas, although there were no details on the charity’s website.
“It is a big madrasa and we have so far gathered that this whole compound is being used for militant training,” he said.
Looks like this Faisal character has a history:
“Faisal Mostafa was cleared twice of terrorist plot charges ? in 1996 and 2002 ? in the U.K.
He was sentenced to four years? imprisonment for possessing illegal arms and another 56 days for trying to board an aircraft with a gun. The 44-year-old chemistry graduate was arrested in 1996 and tried for conspiring to cause explosions after chemicals, timers and detonators were discovered in his house. He was acquitted of the charge after claiming he was writing a book on explosives. In 2000, he was arrested again and charged with planning to cause explosions after police discovered a large cache of explosives at a house in Birmingham. Faisal told the British court that he had a Ph.D. in chemistry and advised companies how to transport dangerous materials safely.”
http://www.hindu.com/2009/03/28/stories/2009032854840900.htm