26/11 Mastermind Hafiz Saeed Handed 31-Year Jail Sentence

Karachi: Pakistan-based terrorist Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind the horrific 26/1 terror attacks in Mumbai, has been sentenced to 31 years in prison in two cases.

An anti-terrorism court, which had convicted Saeed, also imposed a fine of Rs 340,000 on the co-founder of Lashkar-e-Toiba who heads another terror outfit, Jamaat-ud-Dawah, Pakistan’s media reported.

He was reportedly travelling from Lahore to Gujranwala to appear before the anti-terrorism court when he was arrested by Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab.

The 70-year-old Saeed, sentenced in several terror-financing cases, has been in and out of jail in Pakistan, and been under house arrest as well. Yet, he roams freely across Pakistan and gives provoking speeches targeting India.

In one of the deadliest terror attacks against India, 10 members of Lashkar-e-Toiba carried out coordinated shooting and bombing for four days in several Mumbai locations, leaving 166 dead and hundreds injured in November 2008.

Saeed is a United Nations-designated terrorist, listed under UN Security Council Resolution 1267 in December 2008. The United States Department of the Treasury has designated Saeed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, with a $10 million bounty on his head.