PESHAWAR, Jan 25: Pakistan has asked Interpol officials in Dubai to arrest Abdul Bari, the main accused linked to an Afghan trading group allegedly involved in funnelling money to the Taliban, a security official said. The official told Dawn that Abdul Bari, a native of Kandahar province of Afghanistan, was in Dubai and that Interpol officials in Pakistan had asked their counterparts in the Gulf state to arrest the accused and turn him over to Afghanistan.

“His arrest is a matter of time now,” the official said.

Pakistani security officials on Tuesday raided the offices of Shirkat Special in Peshawar and seized records.

The government then moved swiftly to freeze 15 bank accounts belonging to the group, freezing a total of around $10 million in the process.

“Abdul Bari is a trustworthy of Mullah Mohammad Omar, leader of the former Taliban regime,” the official quoted from a letter of the Interpol, Kabul, as saying.

The letter said that the Taliban leader had transferred national assets.