LAHORE, Pakistan - A court in Pakistan on Wednesday remanded to custody Hafiz Saeed, accused of masterminding a four-day attack on India's financial capital in 2008, after a hearing following his arrest last week on terrorism financing charges, his lawyer said.
Saeed's arrest came just ahead of a visit to Washington by Prime Minister Imran Khan and was widely seen as a move by the Islamabad government to smoothe the way before a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
The United States has offered a reward of $10 million for information leading to the conviction of Saeed, who has been arrested and released several times over the past decade.
On Wednesday, an anti-terrorism court in Gujranwala, near the eastern city of Lahore, remanded Saeed to custody for 14 days while counter-terrorism officials complete investigations, the lawyer, Imran Fazal, said.
U.S. officials have long pressured Pakistan to try Saeed, who is designated a terrorist by the United States and the United Nations.
He is the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), or the Army of the Pure, a militant group blamed by the United States and India for the attacks that killed more than 160 people.
He has denied any involvement and said his network, which spans 300 seminaries and schools, hospitals, a publishing house and ambulance services, has no ties to militant groups.
(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) ((james.mackenzie@thomsonreuters.com; +92 300 8566 702 ; Reuters Messaging: Reuters Messaging james.mackenzie.reuters.com@reuters.net))
