London: Pakistan's powerful MQM leader Altaf Hussain was on Tuesday arrested in London on charges of money laundering, sparking panic in Karachi where gunshots were fired and British diplomatic facilities were closed down. Scotland Yard confirmed that a 60-year-old man had been arrested from a north-west London property on charges of money-laundering, but declined to disclose the exact identity of the individual for "legal reasons".

Officers were searching "a residential address in north-west London, where a 60-year-old man was detained," police said. Even as police did not name Hussain, Pakistani media reports quoting sources said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief had been arrested on suspicion of money laundering. Hussain has lived in the UK since claiming asylum in the 1990s but has maintained a tight grip on Karachi, Pakistan's largest city. The MQM is the single largest party in Karachi and has since the late eighties dominated the city political landscape at the local and provincial level.

A spokesman for the British High Commission was quoted by Dawn News as saying that the UK's consulate in Karachi has been temporarily closed down. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the issue of Hussain's arrest was of an extremely sensitive nature and the government would take all legal angles into account. Sharif directed that the Parliament be taken into confidence over the matter. Hussain had been ill for some time and was scheduled to be shifted to a hospital today when the police arrived at his residence, MQM's Nadeem Nusrat said while addressing media representatives via telephone from London.