A key militant of the banned Lashker-e-Tayiba and his 34 Afghan followers have been arrested by Pakistani authorities in the Nowshera area in the country's northwest.
LeT leader Matiullah alias Abu Tallah and his followers were arrested during a pre-dawn raid on his madrassa or seminary at New Dagai village in Nowshera district on Tuesday, police told the media. From the same district, Pakistani intelligence had captured some top Taliban commanders, including members of the 'Quetta Shura'.
The LeT planned and carried out the terror attack in Mumbai that killed 166 people.
The police sealed Matiullah's illegal FM radio channel during the raid. An anti-terrorism court later remanded Matiullah to police custody for 30 days while another court fined his followers and ordered their deportation. The 34 Afghans were taken to the Central Jail in Peshawar, from where they will be deported to Afghanistan.
The police registered a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act against Matiullah's followers. They will be handed over to Afghan authorities after completing legal formalities, the police said. The police said they took action against Matiullah after getting 'credible information' about the illegal presence of foreign students in his seminary.
The police said Matiullah was also accused of using his illegal FM channel to incite people to wage jihad and to mislead people about an ongoing anti-polio campaign. The students received 'martial training' for jihad at the seminary, police said. Matiullah claimed he was innocent and "doing nothing against the government".
He denied having links to any terrorist group. He said he would continue to oppose the anti-polio drive till an 'authentic report by a reliable laboratory' made it clear that the vaccine is not harmful to the health of children.
