United States President Donald Trump on Wednesday hailed the arrest of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, saying that “great pressure” was exerted over Pakistan to find the mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
“After a ten year search, the so-called “mastermind” of the Mumbai Terror attacks has been arrested in Pakistan,” Trump tweeted. “Great pressure has been exerted over the last two years to find him!”
Saeed was arrested on Wednesday by Pakistan’s Counter Terrorism Department in Punjab province. He was produced before an Anti-Terrorism Court in Gujranwala, which sent him to judicial remand for seven days.
The JuD chief was moved to Lahore’s high-security Kot Lakhpat jail, where former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is also lodged. Saeed’s arrest came ahead of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the United States.
Pakistan’s Counter-Terrorism Department, on July 3, had registered 23 cases against Saeed and 12 accomplices for using five trusts to “funnel funds to terror suspects”. The JuD is believed to be a front for the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba. In March, Islamabad had added Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation to its list of proscribed organisations.
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