Karachi: Metropolitan Police of London on Wednesday rounded up Mohammad Anwer, a confidant of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain, to purportedly investigate a money laundering case, for which Hussain is out on bail.
The news of Anwer’s arrest came on Wednesday afternoon, with Scotland Yard issuing a statement saying it had taken a 64-year-old Pakistani man into custody in connection with the money laundering case.
An MQM spokesman confirmed to Gulf News that the arrested man was Anwer. “Yes Mohammad Anwer has been taken into custody by Scotland Yard and investigations are going on, but we are not able to give any further details at this moment,” the spokesman said.
Anwer is an old friend of Hussain and is living in London in self exile with his leader. He has been one of the key decision makers in the MQM.
The case first emerged in June, 2014, when MQM founding leader Hussain was arrested on the charges of money laundering following a raid on his London residence. Some half a million pounds (Dh5 million) were recovered.
Hussain had been released on bail in the case, pending investigation, until December, 2014. Another bail was granted to Hussain until April, 2015, according to the statement of the Metropolitan Police.
Hussain’s arrest sparked widespread tension in Karachi and the city remained shut for at least two days and hundreds of the party workers staged a sit-in at a main thoroughfare in Karachi at the time.
Soon after his release, Hussain issued a statement saying that it was an entirely normal procedure in the UK legal system for bail to be extended.
The arrest of Anwer came at a time when MQM is preparing for a by-election at the constituency, which is considered the strongest fort of the party.
This is the latest in a slew of blows to the party.
In March, the paramilitary Rangers raided at the party headquarters, in which at least one supporter of the party was killed by a stray bullet, and more than a hundred party workers arrested.
The party was further bullied when a video of a convict on death row was leaked. In the video, Saulat Mirza, who was an expelled party worker, claimed that the party’s leadership ordered him to commit the murder.
On Tuesday, party workers clashed with the Pakistan Tehreeke Insaf (PTI) supporters who arrived at a public park near the MQM headquarters and chanted provocative slogans against the MQM.
The tension between the two parties was, however, defused on Wednesday as the governor Sindh convened a meeting of both the parties leaders who laid out a code of conduct to avoid any head-on clash at the upcoming by-election.