LONDON: A member of one of Pakistan’s major political parties, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), was arrested in London on Wednesday on suspicion of money-laundering, the party said. He was later released.

Mohammed Anwar, a member of MQM’s Central Coordination Committee, was arrested at his home in north London and was currently being questioned, MQM said in a statement.

“MQM firmly denies any suggestion of money-laundering,” the statement said.

London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement officers had arrested a 64-year-old man as part of an ongoing investigation into money-laundering.

Five other men previously arrested in connection with the investigation remained on police bail while inquires continued, the statement said.

The party’s leader Altaf Hussain, who has been living in self-imposed exile in Britain since 1992, is one of those. He was arrested and questioned last June, leading to protests which led to a lockdown in Karachi.

In 2010, Imran Farooq, a founding member of MQM who was on the run from Pakistani police, accused of involvement in murder and other serious crimes, was stabbed to death in London.

British detectives have made a number of arrests and named suspected they would like to question, but no one has been charged with his murder.—Reuters