KARACHI (Reuters) - Police in the Pakistani city of Karachi have arrested an Al-Qaeda operative who is on the United Nations sanctions list, a police official said on Friday (April 22).

Pakistan has been under pressure to crack down on Islamist militant groups and launched a renewed operation against many of them in 2014, when Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahri announced the formation of a new wing, Al-Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent.

The region, stretching across countries including Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, is home to more than 400 million Muslims.

Muqadas Haider, a senior police officer, said Abdul Rehman Sindhi was arrested in a joint operation between police and intelligence agencies late on Thursday.

"Abdul Rehman Sindhi is an old veteran of Al-Qaeda," Haider said. "He had stayed in touch with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al- Zawahri and has worked with Harkat-ul Jihad Islami, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Al Akhtar Trust," he said.

Sindhi was put on a UN Security Council sanctions list in 2012 for providing "facilitation and financial services to Al-Qaeda".