The detained, who claimed to be members of 'Dawate Islami' (Tablig and Dawat) and engaged in religious preaching, were sent to Jhalakathi District Jail.

They are Golam Sabbir of Sargoda in Punjab, Pakistan, Belal Afsar, a Pakistani citizen residing in Dhaka, Ilias Hossain and Nurul Absar of Chittagong, Abdul Gani of Barguna, Ilias Akhtar of Rangamati, Nazrul Islam of Habiganj and Imran Akhtar of Noakhali.

Lal Mia, Khadem of the Gorosthan Mosque near Jhalakathi District Jail, said that the arrestees, who were wearing similar dresses, came to the town Friday morning and took shelter at the mosque.

Their movements being suspicious, the mosque authority informed Jhalakathi Public Prosecutor Advocate Haider Hossain, who later talked to them. As they failed to give satisfactory information about their identities and activities, he contacted the police who arrested them at about 8:00pm.

Some Islamic religious books, stickers and household utensils were seized from them.

Police arrested Kazi Nazrul Islam of Barisal yesterday morning, when he came to meet them.

Showing them arrested under section 54 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), police sent them to Jhalakathi Sadar Upazila magistrate court yesterday with a seven-day remand prayer for further interrogation. But the hearing could not be held, as the first class magistrate empowered to hear remand was on leave.

During primary interrogation, the arrestees claimed that they are followers of 'Kaderia Tarika' and their 'Pir"(religious master) is Yusuf Aktari of Punjab.

Golam Sabbir said that he had visited Bangladesh twice earlier and came from Pakistan with a valid passport and visa adding that he had been working with the Tablig and Dawat in Dhaka, Chittagong, Syedpur and Rangamati for the last two and a half months.

He, however, failed to show the original passport, claiming that it has been kept in Dhaka.

Belal Afsar said that he came to Bangladesh 18 years ago and had been staying here since then.