Bangladesh says Coca-Cola unit manager tied to IS

Dhaka

Bangladeshi authorities arrested two men suspected of being recruiters for the Islamic State, police said, one of whom works for a local unit of the Coca-Cola Co.

Aminul Islam Baig, 38, had earlier worked as a regional coordinator of the banned militant group Jama’atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, Monirul Islam, a joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said by phone. The other man arrested is Sakib bin Kamal, 30.

International Beverages Pvt Ltd., a local bottling unit for Coca-Cola, confirmed in an e-mailed statement that Baig is an employee. The company will “fully cooperate with the law enforcement agencies as required,” it said.

In an anti-terror crackdown, Bangladesh banned another militant group, Ansarullah Bangla Team, the home ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The ABT was accused of involvement in the killings of four bloggers, including Ananta Bijoy Das in the northeastern city of Sylhet on May 12, a local daily reported yesterday citing an unnamed member of the police. It was the sixth group to be outlawed for militant and anti-state activities.

Police have arrested at least 14 IS suspects in Bangladesh over the past year, according to the report.

While Bangladesh is officially a secular country, about 90 percent of its 166 million people are Muslims, according to the CIA’s World Factbook.