DHAKA, Dec 26: A ruling party lawmaker allegedly involved in extortion was arrested on Wednesday as police in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, cracked down on crime, a home ministry official said.

Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu, an MP in Prime Minister Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was arrested at his Dhaka residence in a pre-dawn swoop, the official said.

Pintu then appeared in court and was ordered to be detained by authorities for one month pending charges, the official said.

The arrest follows press reports that Pintu, who won one of the capital’s key constituencies in the Oct 1 general election, was allegedly involved in incidents of extortion and intimidation.—AFP