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Dhaka, Bangladesh:
Bangladesh security forces said today they have arrested a Dutch national suspected of leading a group of Myanmar separatists that attacked Bangladeshi border forces in August.
Rannin Soe is an alleged leader of the Arakan Army, which has been fighting for an independent homeland in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Bangladesh launched a huge man-hunt for the 47-year-old after the attack on its border forces in the Chittagong Hills in the south-east of the country, near Myanmar.
"Soe is a Myanmar-origin Dutch national and a leader of the Arakan Army," local police chief Ohidullah Sarker told AFP.
"He had been on the run since the attack on a patrol team of Border Guard of Bangladesh."
Police arrested him on Wednesday after they found his Dutch passport, identity card and fatigues of the Arakan Army at a hideout.
"He has told us that he is a doctor who studied in Yangon," Sarker said, adding that Soe had been in Bangladesh since 2010.
In August a group of Arakan Army rebels ambushed a border guard patrol team near the border with Myanmar in what is thought to have been a revenge attack after Bangladeshi security forces seized 10 horses from them.
Two cases were filed against Soe after the incident one under Bangladesh's anti-terrorism laws and another for illegal trespassing.
Following the attack, Bangladesh's army and police raided and sealed a luxury villa said to be owned by Soe in the Chittagong Hills and retrieved battle fatigues. Soe's assistant was also arrested in the raid.
Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state suffered deadly religious violence in 2012 between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslims, mainly from the Rohingya minority.
In April, Myanmar's media reported that the army had clashed with Arakan Army insurgents in the state in what was said to be the first time the rebels had fought troops in their home region.
Sporadic civil wars have gripped Myanmar for some seven decades as militias in resource-rich and ethnically diverse border areas battle for greater autonomy.
Relatively little is known about Soe, but a video uploaded to YouTube two weeks ago purported to show the rebel leader.
In it he declares that the Arakan Army is "fighting (for) freedom, fighting for independence".
There was no immediate comment from the Dutch embassy in Dhaka.
Rannin Soe is an alleged leader of the Arakan Army, which has been fighting for an independent homeland in Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Bangladesh launched a huge man-hunt for the 47-year-old after the attack on its border forces in the Chittagong Hills in the south-east of the country, near Myanmar.
"Soe is a Myanmar-origin Dutch national and a leader of the Arakan Army," local police chief Ohidullah Sarker told AFP.
"He had been on the run since the attack on a patrol team of Border Guard of Bangladesh."
Police arrested him on Wednesday after they found his Dutch passport, identity card and fatigues of the Arakan Army at a hideout.
"He has told us that he is a doctor who studied in Yangon," Sarker said, adding that Soe had been in Bangladesh since 2010.
In August a group of Arakan Army rebels ambushed a border guard patrol team near the border with Myanmar in what is thought to have been a revenge attack after Bangladeshi security forces seized 10 horses from them.
Two cases were filed against Soe after the incident one under Bangladesh's anti-terrorism laws and another for illegal trespassing.
Following the attack, Bangladesh's army and police raided and sealed a luxury villa said to be owned by Soe in the Chittagong Hills and retrieved battle fatigues. Soe's assistant was also arrested in the raid.
Myanmar's troubled Rakhine state suffered deadly religious violence in 2012 between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Muslims, mainly from the Rohingya minority.
In April, Myanmar's media reported that the army had clashed with Arakan Army insurgents in the state in what was said to be the first time the rebels had fought troops in their home region.
Sporadic civil wars have gripped Myanmar for some seven decades as militias in resource-rich and ethnically diverse border areas battle for greater autonomy.
Relatively little is known about Soe, but a video uploaded to YouTube two weeks ago purported to show the rebel leader.
In it he declares that the Arakan Army is "fighting (for) freedom, fighting for independence".
There was no immediate comment from the Dutch embassy in Dhaka.
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