NEW DELHI, August 7 (RIA Novosti) -- Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has taken into custody terrorist leader Don Dawood Ibrahim, his trusted lieutenant Chhota Shakeel, and the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai blasts Tiger Memon, the Times of India reported Tuesday.
Intelligence sources said the trio was rounded up last Thursday from their hideout near the Pakistan-Afghan border and taken to a safe house on the outskirts of Quetta.
The paper quoted a senior intelligence officer as saying that Dawood and the others have ceased to be of much use to Pakistan authorities.
It said that with the U.S. mounting pressure on Islamabad to hand over Dawood and his accomplices, who are believed to be close to al-Qaeda, the ISI acted to pre-empt possible proactive steps by Washington, adding that last week, the U.S. said Dawood's smuggling routes converge with that used by al-Qaeda to traffic arms.