ISLAMABAD, Jan 3: Former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, Mulla Abdus Salam Zaeef, was picked up from his residence and taken to Peshawar on Thursday morning.

A heavy contingent of police, with a large number of plain-clothes operatives of the intelligence agencies, raided the residence of Mr Zaeef in Sector F-10 and took him to some unknown place, an official source said.

Later, it was learnt again through official sources that Mr Zaeef had been taken to Peshawar from where he would be deported to Afghanistan.

However, no official word was available about the arrest of the former Taliban ambassador.

Mr Zaeef, shortly before his arrest, told an Afghanistan-based news agency that he was ready to face any legal action. He said that he had served the Taliban government as a diplomat and had not been involved in any other activity.

He said he was ready to face any charge provided his trial was conducted in an open court.