The Bangladesh police have arrested four people in connection with the killing of a Saudi diplomat in Dhaka early this year in what has been described as a case of mugging.
Khalaf bin Mohammed Salem al-Ali, a 45-year-old official in the Saudi embassy's consular section, was shot and killed 30 meters from his home on March 6.
"They confessed their involvement in the killing during the interrogation...it appears to be an unplanned murder and case of simple mugging," police Detective Branch's deputy Commissioner Nazrul Islam told newsmen at a briefing.
He said according to the statement of the suspects, a bullet fired from a .22 bore pistol of one of the muggers during a brawl with the embassy officer as the gang tried to rob him.
The police said they were arrested from different parts of the city at different time over the past one week.
"We had sent the point 22 bore pistol to forensic department of the Criminal Investigation Department and they confirmed that the bullet that killed the Saudi official was fired from the same pistol," the DC said.
Officials said the suspects were being quizzed further as they were remanded in custody for eight days under a fresh court order after the forensic report on the pistol was available.
The development came three months after Saudi Arabia sent a fact-finding delegation visited Bangladesh as no apparent headway could be made in the investigation. \
The autopsy and police reports had earlier said the unidentified assailants used a single bullet that pierced through chest killing Ali in hours. Authorities constituted a three-member enquiry committee headed by joint police commissioner Sheikh Maruf Hasan immediately after Ali's death.
