Golam Azad, assistant commissioner of the detective branch, told reporters LeT’s chief in Bangladesh and two of his associates, all three Pakistani nationals, were detained after a raid at a hotel in Dhaka on Saturday.

In recent months, police have arrested dozens of militants, including several Lashkar activists, in Bangladesh, police said.

LeT, one of the largest and best-funded militant groups in South Asia, was blamed for the 2008 attack on the India’s commercial hub of Mumbai.

Muslim-majority Bangladesh has several outlawed militant groups which are still active and trying to broaden their bases even though six top leaders of the biggest group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), were hanged in 2007.

Police say their followers have regrouped and teamed up with overseas militants like the LeT and are trying to launch fresh attacks. Over the years police have busted several militant hideouts, seized weapons, explosives, as well as books and leaflets propagating their mission to make Bangladesh a Shariah-based Islamic state.