LAHORE, July 17 - Mumbai terror attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed was arrested on Wednesday on terror financing charges by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Province, just days ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan�s maiden visit to the United States.
Saeed, a UN designated terrorist whom the US has placed a $10-million bounty on, was travelling to Gujranwala from Lahore to get pre-arrest bail in terror financing cases registered against him there when he was arrested, a CTD official said.
�The JuD chief was going to Gujranwala from Lahore on Wednesday morning when a CTD team intercepted him near Gujranwala city (some 80 km from Lahore) and arrested him on terror financing charges,� the official said.
Saeed was presented before an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Gujranwala that sent him in judicial remand for seven days. He was subsequently shifted to Lahore�s high-security Kot Lakhpat jail where former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is serving seven years imprisonment in a corruption case, the official said.
In a statement, the CTD said Saeed was arrested in a case registered in Gujranwala and he will face the trial in ATC, Gujranwala. The CTD on July 3 had registered 23 FIRs against 13 top leaders of Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD), including Saeed, on the charges of �terror financing� in different cities of Punjab province.
Saeed�s arrest comes just ahead of Prime Minister Imran Khan�s maiden visit to the US on July 21 during which he will hold talks with President Donald Trump. Trump has repeatedly asked Pakistan to abide by its UN Security Council commitments to deny terrorists safe haven and block their access to funds. � PTI
