26/11 Attack Handler Jailed For 15 Years In Pak

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has awarded over 15 years’ jail term in a terror financing case to a main handler of the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks. Sajid Majeed Mir, an activist of banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), was sentenced in a terror financing case, a senior lawyer associated with terror financing cases of LeT and Jamaat-ud-Dawa leaders told PTI on Friday.

The Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of the Punjab Police, which often issues conviction of suspects in such cases to the media, did not notify Mir’s conviction in a terror financing case. Besides, since it was an in-camera proceeding inside a jail, the media was not allowed.

The lawyer further said convict Mir, who is in mid 40s, has been in the Kot Lakhpat jail since his arrest this April. He said the court also imposed a fine of over Rs 400,000 on the convict.

Earlier, it was assumed that Mir was dead.

Before the last meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Pakistan reportedly told the agency that it had arrested and prosecuted Sajid Mir in order to seek its removal from the FATF ‘Grey list’.

Sajid Mir, who has a bounty of USD 5 million, is in India’s most wanted list for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead.

Mir was called “project manager” of the Mumbai attacks. Mir had reportedly visited India in 2005 using a fake passport.

Mumbai terror attacks’ alleged mastermind and JuD chief Hafiz Saeed has already been sentenced to 68 years’ imprisonment in terror financing cases by the Lahore anti-terrorism court. The sentence is running concurrently, which means he will not have to spend many years in jail.

Mumbai attack operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi has also been convicted for several years. Both Saeed and Lakhvi are also in the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore.

Saeed, a UN-designated terrorist on whom the US has placed a USD 10 million bounty, was arrested in July 2019 in the terror financing cases. Saeed-led JuD is the front organisation for the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), which is responsible for carrying out the 2008 Mumbai attack that also left six Americans dead.

According to the US Department of Treasury, Saeed is a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

The global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is instrumental in pushing Islamabad to take measures against terrorists roaming freely in Pakistan and using its territory to carry out attacks in India.

The FATF had placed Pakistan on the Grey List in June 2018 and asked Islamabad to implement a plan of action to curb money laundering.