Pakistani officials say security agents have arrested a man suspected of involvement in the kidnapping and murder of reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
Police say Hashim Qadeer, who is on Pakistan's most wanted list, was arrested in the eastern city of Gujranwala Wednesday. He is said to have arranged a meeting between the American reporter and British-born militant Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who received a death sentence in the Pearl murder case.
Also Wednesday, Pakistani authorities said up to 600 suspected militants, clerics and Islamist activists have been detained in a security crackdown across the country.
The crackdown was ordered after revelations that some of the suspected suicide bombers in the July 7 attacks on London were Britons of Pakistani descent who had visited Pakistan, but Pakistani officials say the arrests are not linked to the London bombings.