June 14, 2002	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1423

DHAKA, June 13: Foreign office sources in Dhaka dismissed media reports on the arrest of 16 Bangladeshis in West Bengal for alleged links with Pakistan’s intelligence agency and Kashmiri fighters as a “motivated media campaign”.

Officials in Kolkata said authorities in West Bengal had “arrested 16 Bangladesh immigrants”.

The police chief of the state said police jointly raided villages in Murshidabad district of West Bengal bordering Bangladesh with Indian border guards on Tuesday and arrested them.

A police official was quoted as saying that the arrested men were charged with illegal entry into India. Officials, however, do not want to be quoted on this sensitive issue in view of Foreign Minister M. Morshed Khan’s imminent visit to New Delhi.