Lahore: Mumbai terror attack mastermind and Jammat-ud Dawah (JeD) chief Hafiz Saeed was declared guilty of ‘terror financing’ by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) in a Pakistani court, here Wednesday.
Hafiz Saeed, a UN designated terrorist, was presented before the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Gujranwala, some 80 kilometres from this city, in high security where he was chargesheeted of terror financing by the CTD of Punjab police.
A CTD official told this agency that it submitted challan in the ATC declaring Hafiz Saeed guilty of terror financing.
“Since the case is related to Mandi Bhauddin district of Punjab therefore the prosecution requested the court to shift it to Gujrat ATC court (some 200 kilometres from Lahore),” said the CTD official.
Founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Saeed was travelling to Gujranwala from here to get pre-arrest bail in terror financing cases registered against him there when he was arrested July 17. He is being kept at the Kot Lakhpat jail here in high security.
The US Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a ‘Specially Designated Global Terrorist’, and the US, since 2012, has offered a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.
The Saeed-led JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people. He was listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008.
The Pakistani government had also arrested the JuD’s second-in-command Abdul Rehman Makki, who is brother-in-law of Saeed, on the charges of making a public speech and terror financing charges. The CTD said it booked Saeed and his 12 aides for terror financing in 23 cases after ‘irrefutable evidence’ against them was detected.
“These suspects made assets from funds of terrorism financing. They held and used these assets to raise more funds for further terrorism financing. Hence, they committed multiple offences of terrorism financing & money laundering under Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. They will be prosecuted in ATCs (Anti Terrorism Courts) for commission of these offences,” the CTD said.
PTI
