Mumbai 26/11 attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed arrested in Pakistan

Pakistani authorities have arrested Hafiz Saeed and 23 others for alleged terrorism financing in relation to the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in which Islamist militants killed 165 people and injured a further 300.

Saeed was arrested by the COunter-Terrorism Department of Punjab Police while travelling from Lahore to Gujranwala. He has reportedly been sent to jail on judicial remand.

The militant and 12 other accomplices were booked earlier in the month on terror-funding charges and he now stands accused in some 23 terrorism-related cases in Pakistan amid a sweeping clampdown by the Khan government. 

Soldiers take position near the Taj Mahal Hotel during the Mumbai attacks in 2008. © Global Look Press

The cases are focused on Saeed and 23 different accomplices funneling money through five separate trusts on behalf of an outlawed charity, Jamat ud Dawa (JuD), which acts as a front for the Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group which carried out the 2008 Mumbai attacks and operates within Pakistan. The US declared Lashkar-e-Taiba as a foreign terrorist organisation in June 2014.

Prime Minister Imran Khan and his government have launched sweeping investigations under threat of sanction by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an anti-money laundering and terrorism financing group established by the G7.

Hafiz Saeed is a UN-designated a global terrorist and the US previously posted a $10 million bounty for evidence leading to Saeed's conviction. Despite being arrested several times by Pakistani authorities in the past, Saeed has remained in the country and has not been imprisoned for any substantial length of time.

The Mumbai terrorist attacks began on November 26, 2008 and lasted until November 28. They consisted of coordinated attacks by gunmen in several locations across south Mumbai. 

The attacks began when teams of heavily armed terrorists came ashore in inflatable speedboats at two locations in Colaba. Police ignored reports from local fishermen of suspicious, armed men entering the port area. 

The dramatic and bloody siege ended on November 29 when India's National Security Guards launched Operation Black Tornado which concluded with the deaths of the last remaining attackers who were holed up in the Taj Hotel.

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