DHAKA, July 29: A number of foreign intelligence agencies have initiated moves to woo one or the other political party in Bangladesh in the run-up to general elections slated for January, a newspaper said on Saturday.

The daily New Age quoted government officials as saying that the American Central Intelligence Agency, India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the MI6 of the United Kingdom and Israel’s Mossad were among the intelligence outfits trying to get a foothold in Bangladesh’s politics.

“The government is aware of the ongoing espionage and counterespionage centring on the upcoming elections,” the newspaper quoted a minister as saying.

“While espionage and counterespionage in the political arena is not a new phenomenon, such intelligence activities always gain momentum before national elections,” a dissident leader of the ruling BNP said.

“In the run-up to the 1996 and 2001 general elections, leaders of both the Awami League and the BNP had meetings with agents of some foreign intelligence agencies,” the BNP leader, a former military official, said.