PESHAWAR, Jan 3: A high-profile Taliban leader released by the Afghan government in 2007 in exchange of a kidnapped Italian journalist was arrested from the posh Hayatabad Township.

According to sources, 55-year-old Ustad Mohammad Yasir was a resident of Maidan Wardak and wanted by Pakistani security agencies for his illegal involvement in many cases.

Yasir had once served as a spokesman for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar. After Taliban was ousted from power in the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, he came to Pakistan. He was first arrested in 2005 and handed over to the Karzai government. In 2007, he was released in exchange of Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo.

AFP adds: Ustad Mohammad Yasir was detained on Thursday in Peshawar, a senior security official told AFP.

The official said Yasir’s real name was Ustad Zumarck, and that he had also been a professor at Kabul University.