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Police arrest Pakistani national accused of being terrorist group member

Published: 08 Aug. 2025, 14:47 Updated: 08 Aug. 2025, 15:19

Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police's offices in Suwon, Gyeonggi [YONHAP]

A Pakistani national accused of being a member of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and of entering Korea illegally has been arrested, police said Friday. This marks the first time a member accused of being a part of a United Nations-designated terrorist organization has been detained and charged in the country.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Precinct’s National Security Investigation Unit said it arrested and referred a man in his 40s to the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office on charges of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Immigration Control Act.

Police said the man joined LeT in 2020 in his hometown of Narowal, Pakistan, and underwent training at the group’s camp on how to use heavy weapons, including machine guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, as well as infiltration drills, before becoming a full member.

Investigators allege the man entered Korea illegally in December 2023 after obtaining a visa in September that year by submitting a falsified application to the Korean Consulate in Pakistan, claiming he was visiting for business.

LeT, founded in the mid-1980s, is an Islamist extremist group dedicated to establishing an Islamic state in South Asia and liberating — in its own view — Muslims in parts of Kashmir ruled by India.

The group, once supported by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency, was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, prompting Pakistan to officially halt its support.

The United Nations listed LeT as a terrorist organization in 2005.

LeT carried out the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which killed 166 people, and has been implicated in other attacks, including in New Delhi, India and Bangalore. Most recently, it was accused of orchestrating a shooting in April in the Kashmiri resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

An immigration sign is pictured in this file photo from 2016. [YONHAP NEWS TV]

Police, acting on intelligence from the National Intelligence Service (NIS), arrested the man in Itaewon, central Seoul, on Saturday.

The man told police, “I came to Korea to earn money” and “I know the organization called Lashkar-e-Taiba, but I am not a member.”

But investigators say the man has not worked since entering the country in 2023 and never joined the companies he listed on his immigration paperwork as former employers in Pakistan.

The man had applied to extend his stay, but immigration authorities recently recommended his departure, effective Sept. 5.

Police said they are continuing to work with the NIS to investigate whether the man had accomplices in Korea or was involved in raising or transferring funds for terrorist activities.

“Thanks to our close cooperation with the NIS, we were able to quickly apprehend the suspect," a police spokesperson said.

"With the APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation] summit scheduled to be held in Gyeongju this October, we will strengthen our cooperation to eliminate potential terrorist threats in advance.”

Terror-related reports can be made by calling 113 or through the online 113 reporting center on the National Police Agency’s website.

BY CHOI MO-RAN [[email protected]]