JuD chief Hafiz Saeed behind the bars for terror financing

Hafiz Saeed. Pic/ AP

Lahore: Mumbai terror attack mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed was arrested 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 US.

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.

"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," a CTD official said.

Saeed was presented before an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Gujranwala that sent him on 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.

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