AN orphanage run by a British charity in Bangladesh is being used as a Muslim extremist training camp.
Local security force the Rapid Action Battalion said today it had found arms, ammunition, walkie-talkies and army uniforms in the compound.
Four people have now been arrested, including a teacher and three caretakers.
The head of the charity, a British citizen known only as Faisal, is still being hunted.
The arrests came after a raid yesterday on the Green Crescent madrassa and orphanage on the remote island of Bhola.
Lt Col Munir Haque, said: “We found small arms – about nine or ten 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.
Explosives
“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 there were about 11 children between the ages of seven and eight at the compound during the raid, but no other adults.
Locals told the officers the madrassa, or Islamic seminary, was a British charity financed by “Faisal”, who they said had lived in Britain for 25 years.
Green Crescent’s website shows it is involved in projects in Bhola and several others around Bangladesh and at least one in Pakistan.
The charity, which is registered in the UK under the number 1099233, was founded in 1998 by students in Britain and Bangladesh, and is based in Stockport, outside Manchester.
K.M. Mamunur Rashid, another officer involved in the raid, said the charity had plans to build two more madrassas.
"It is a big madrassa and we have so far gathered that this whole compound is being used for militant training,” he said.
Bangladeshi media reported security forces suspected the compound was being used by Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a banned militant group.
Authorities have previously pinpointed madrassas as potential recruiting grounds for militant groups such as JMB.
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