The Bangladeshi military announced Jan. 19 that it had foiled a coup plot in December 2011 by several lower- and midranking officers. The exact number of would-be coup participants has not yet been determined — unnamed military sources have said the investigation is expanding — but several of the up to 16 current and former officers under investigation have already been taken into custody, including a retired lieutenant colonel and major. The suspected ringleader of the plot, Maj. Mohammad Ziaul Haq, went AWOL after the other officers were arrested and is still at large. Though Bangladesh has a long history of military coups and this particular plot does not appear to have been very sophisticated, it is notable for other reasons. First, it was led by relatively low-ranking officers, while past coups have been led by the military's top leadership.