Pakistan authorities on Saturday arrested an alleged planner of the 2008 Mumbai attacks over a separate case of terrorism financing, officials said.
Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, a leader of the banned militant organization Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was arrested in the eastern city of Lahore where he was running a medical dispensary, Syed Nayyab Haider from Punjab’s counter-terrorism department said in a statement.
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“Proscribed organization LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba) leader Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi (has been) arrested on charges of terrorism financing,” said a spokesman for the Punjab counter-terrorism department.
He used the dispensary to collect funds for militant activities, it added, without providing details.
LeT, including Lakhvi, is accused by India of plotting the four-day assault that left 166 people dead.
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India has long seethed at Pakistan’s failure to hand over or prosecute those accused of planning and organizing the Mumbai attacks.
Lakhvi was detained in 2015 over the attacks but released months later. The government slapped him with a series of detention orders but judges repeatedly canceled them.
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Lakhvi had been accused by a UN Security Council sanctions committee of either orchestrating or being involved in a number of militant activities in several regions including Afghanistan and Iraq, reported Reuters.
Earlier this year, Pakistan also arrested firebrand cleric and alleged mastermind of the siege Hafiz Saeed, who heads the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a wing of LeT, for terrorism financing.
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Saeed has denied involvement in the attacks.
Lakhvi, an UN-designated individual who is also a senior leader of another proscribed outfit Jamaat-ud-Dawah, will now face trial in an anti-terrorism court in Lahore, according to the statement by the counter-terrorism department.
Lakhvi’s lawyer, Imran Gill has confirmed the arrest. Lakhvi’s case would be presented in court next week, Gill told Reuters. Gill gave no further details about the case.
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AFP with additional input from GVS news desk