Gholam Mostafa is believed to be head of the terrorist group's UK branch and is wanted by police in Britain on charges of financing radical groups.
Bangladesh-born British citizen Gholam Mostafa, linked to the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Huji) and believed to be head of the terrorist group's United Kingdom branch, has been arrested.
Police in Bangladesh are also investigating Mostafa's ties with Pakistan-based terrorist groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
Mostafa, 50, who, police believe, heads the UK branch of the dreaded Pakistani terrorist group Huji, was arrested from the northwestern district of Sylhet in Bangladesh.
"We arrested him from [northeastern] Sylhet on a tip-off yesterday," Dhaka police commissioner AKM Shahidul Haq told reporters at a press briefing at his office, as Mostafa appeared before the media for a photo session under heavy police escort.
Haq said Mostafa had admitted during initial interrogation that he had joined the armed resistance against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s along with the Afghan mujahideen and led a group of 126 Bangladeshis in the war.
The commissioner said Mostafa fled to Bangladesh in 2007, apparently to evade arrest by police in Britain, where his bank accounts were reportedly closed on charges of financing terrorist activity.
An officer of the detective branch of the police later told the Press Trust of India that Mostafa had admitted his links with the Bangladesh-based Huji.
He added that with the information police had gathered from various sources, Mostafa could also be linked to Pakistan's Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed.
"We expect to know more about him once we can interrogate him in our custody with a court order tomorrow," the officer said.
Mostafa was nabbed late last night. The suspected terrorist ring leader is also wanted by police in Britain on charges of financing radical groups.
"Mostafa is wanted in London under the Terrorist Financing Act as he had been found collecting money for the Afghan mujahideen and Bangladesh militants," Dhaka's police chief said.
Haq said the information that led to Mostafa's arrest was provided by two recently detained suspected terrorist financiers, Bangladesh-born British citizen Faisal Mostafa and Huji's founder in the country, Mofti Abdus Salam.
The police chief said Gholam Mostafa had been under surveillance since his house was raided in 2007.
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