New Delhi: In a significant development at the anti-terror front, the 26/11 Mumbai Attacks mastermind Hafiz Saeed has been arrested on Wednesday in Pakistan while he was enroute to Gujranwala to Lahore, by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab Province.

Saeed, who orchestrated the devastating terror attacks in Mumbai in the year 2008, which killed 164 civilians and injured more than 300 people, is the operating head of Pakistan based terror outfits Jamaat-ud-Dawa (Jud) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

In nutshell: What you need to know about Hafiz Saeed

  • Saeed led JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Taiba which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attacks in the year 2008.

  • In India, Hafiz Saeed is the most wanted terrorist. He is listed on the NIA’s Most Wanted list and his organisations LeT and JuD have been banned as terrorist organisations.

  • Hafiz Saeed was listed on 10 December 2008 by the United Nation Security Council as being associated with Lashkar-e-Tayyiba  and Al Qaida for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts of activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of” both entities.

  • JuD had been declared as a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014.

  • Among the number of attacks carried out by his outfits, the major ones include 2008 Mumbai attacks, the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, and the 2001 Indian Parliament attack.

  • Lashkar-e-Taiba has also been proscribed in the United States, the United Kingdom, the EU, and Australia.

  • Lashkar's primary target is believed to be the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. He has been quoted advocating disintegration of India, a number of times.

  • Saeed's arrest comes after the CTD, in a crackdown against terror financing, registered 23 cases against the JuD chief and his 12 aides for using five trusts to funnel funds to terror suspects. On Monday, the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore had granted pre-arrest bail to the JuD chief and three others in a case pertaining to the outfit's alleged illegal use of land for its seminary.

  • Taking a plunge into the mainstream politics of Pakistan last year, Saeed co-opted Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek, a little-known Pakistani political party, which failed to win seats in the Pakistan general elections of 2018. His Milli Muslim League, was denied registration as a political party and candidates were fielded under the banner of dormant political party Allaha-u-Akbar Tehreek (AAT).