He was speaking at an anti-militancy rally of Olama and Mashayekh or Islamic scholars in Shariatpur on Sunday.

“Many young Bangladeshis were trapped by Mossad abroad,” the minister said.

“We’ve seen that these youths are highly educated and they know English well. They are doing these misdeeds after getting education abroad.

“Now they are creating confusion over our religion in different places, websites on the internet,” he said.

Many of the speakers at the rally blamed Mossad for ‘misleading’ Bangladeshi youths.

Without naming Israel directly, Kamal said, “We have information that Mossad, the intelligence agency of the country, the name of which you’ve mentioned many times, is active enough in its efforts to mislead us.”

He urged all in society to step forward to eliminate militancy, terrorism and drugs.

Inspector General of Police AKM Shahidul Hoque also delivered speech at the rally organised by the district police, community policing unit, and Olama Mashayekh Forum.

MPs BM Muzammel Haque and Navana Akter, among others, were also present at the programme chaired by Shariatpur Superintendent of Police Saifullah Al Mamoon.