Mutiny 'ringleader' arrested

DHAKA - Bangladeshi police yesterday said they had arrested the suspected ringleader of a deadly insurrection by border guards, an attack the Prime Minister cited as proof of "a conspiracy" against her fledgling Government.

The Army meanwhile continued to search for more than 1000 border guards who fled after last week's mutiny at their headquarters in Dhaka in which the guards ambushed their commanding officers, leaving at least 69 people dead.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who came to power two months ago, has suggested the border guards had outside help in plotting their uprising, although she has not specified from whom. She told supporters that the attack proved there was "a conspiracy" against her.

Parallel military and civilian investigations aim to determine the details of and reasons for the two-day mutiny that began on February 25.

The alleged ringleader, Syed Tauhidul Alam, was arrested in a Dhaka slum yesterday with four other border guards, all of whom have been charged with murder and arson, according to A.K. Azad, a spokesman for the police unit that carried out the raid.

-AP