KARACHI: Following raids at Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain’s residence in London last year, the London Metropolitan Police Friday arrested two suspects in connection with money laundering case, they are currently probing.
Hussain is being investigated for money laundering worth at least 400,000 pounds as well as for incitement to violence and MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq’s murder.
Speaking to BBC Urdu, Met police officer Richard Jones said the suspects were moved to a police station in Central London following their arrest. Both, however, were released on bail later, he added.
Jones said the police were investigating the money laundering case and Dr Imran Farooq's murder simultaneously.
According to a statement by Met police, two houses in West London were raided in this regard. The Anti-Terrorism Unit (ATU) of Metropolitan Police conducted the raids.
A large amount of cash along with important documents were taken into custody by the police when they raided Altaf Hussain’s home in London’s Edgeware neighbourhood in connection with Dr Farooq’s murder on Dec 8 – two days short of exactly a year ago.
The law enforcers initiated a probe into money laundering allegations against the MQM and its chief besides the murder case following the raids.
They have said apparently the murder seems carried out through a “planned conspiracy”. There was also a possibility that the murder was carried out with the help of “others deliberately or unintentionally”.
MQM leader Dr Imran Farooq, aged 50, was on his way home from work when he was attacked in Green Lane on Sept 16, 2010 outside his London home. A post-mortem examination found that he died from multiple stab wounds and blunt trauma to the head.
Farooq, one of the founding members of the MQM, then known as the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, had been living in self-imposed exile in London since 1999.
The party later transformed into the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and became the fourth largest political force in parliament, and is the largest political party in Karachi, Pakistan’s business hub by the Arabian Sea.