Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Dhaka police arrested four men in a dawn raid, suspected of killing Italian volunteer Cesare Tavella a month ago. Muntasirul Islam, Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner (DMP)told press those arrested are Tanzim Ahmed Rubel, Sakhawat Hossain Sharif, Russell Chowdhury and Minhazul Islam Russell. Three of them are the alleged perpetrators of the crime, while the fourth is the owner of the motorcycle used by the assailants. The vehicle was found and confiscated by police.
Cesare Tavella, 51, was shot to death on September 27th while jogging in the street 90, Gulshan 2 area of the capital, and was pronounced dead the next day at the United Hospital. He collaborated with the Cooperation ICCO, a Dutch development NGO.
Asaduzzaman Mia, held commissioner Dmp a press conference this morning in the Dmp Media Center. According to the investigators, the killers were acting for remuneration: "Someone who wants to destabilize the government ordered the murder, through a man called 'Boro Bhai', Big Brother, who contracted these four men to kill the foreigner". On October 3, Hoshi Kunio, a 66 years old Japanese citizen was shot in Rangpur. Boro Bhai is currently wanted by the police.
"When the killers asked Boro Bhai if he had any enmity with the foreigner [Tavella- ed] - the commissioner added - he said no, saying that the motive of the killing was the desire to put pressure on the government."
Both murders were immediately claimed by the Islamic State. In a press conference on 5 October, however, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina rejected any possible link with the caliphate, ensuring that there are no cells in Bangladesh. According to Hasina, the murders were the work of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and Jamaat-e-Islami (Islamic political organization).