Bangladesh 1975 coup fugitive arrested in US

Los Angeles, Mar 15: US immigration officials said they hadarrested a former Bangladeshi army officer wanted for his role in a1975 military coup in which Bangladesh's president was killed.

Mohiuddin A K M Ahmed, 60, was arrested at his Los Angeles home onTuesday and was being held pending a deportation hearing, immigrationofficials said yesterday.

In 1998, Ahmed was convicted and sentenced to death in his absencefor his role in the August 1975 coup that led to the assassination ofSheikh Mujib Rahman, Bangladesh's first president.

Death sentences against 10 of the 15 convicted officers were upheld by Bangladesh's High Court in 2000.

Ahmed first came to the United States on a visitor's visa in 1996and applied to remain here permanently. After years of deportationorders and appeals, a federal appeals court in San Francisco last monthdenied his petition to review his case.

''He was a foreign fugitive and we aggressively will continue toseek out, locate, arrest and deport individuals in coordination withlaw enforcement around the world,'' said Brian DeMore of the LosAngeles office of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Reuters >