Pakistan's 'most wanted', Saud Memon dies

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: Saud Memon, who figured high on Pakistan's 'most wanted' list as Al Qaeda's key financier, has died in a Karachi hospital.

While hospital authorities said he died of tuberculosis and meningitis on Friday, his family alleged he had been poisoned by the authorities.

Saud was a merchant who owned the plot in Karachi from where US journalist Daniel Pearl's body was found in 2002, weeks after being kidnapped while on assignment to track the Al Qaeda trail in Pakistan.

He was first on Pakistan's most wanted list and carried a prize money of Rs 3 million. His name first surfaced when the police recovered Pearl's remains on May 17, 2002, from his plot in Ahsanabad, Gadap town.

According to his brother Mahmood, Saud left for South Africa after Pearl's remains were unearthed. He was apprehensive of his likely arrest in the high-profile murder case and fled the country, 'Daily Times' reported on Saturday.