Dhaka, April 18 (IANS): Bangladesh's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Monday said it has found links of at least 20 foreigners in the theft of $101 million from Bangladesh Bank's account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

CID Additional Deputy Inspector General Shah Alam said this but did not elaborate on the foreigners' involvement for the "sake of investigation", Xinhua reported.

CID investigators have recently visited Sri Lanka and Philippines for the probe.

"We've come to know about the names of the foreigners during the recent visit to the countries," Alam said.

He also expressed his reluctance to tell immediately whether any Bangladeshis were involved in the reserve heist.

Some $101 million worth of foreign reserves of the Bangladesh Bank, deposited with the US central bank, was stolen by a racket of hackers on February 5. The money was transferred to Sri Lanka and the Philippines.

About $20 million of the total stolen money has so far been recovered.