LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) – An Islamic militant accused of arranging an initial meeting between a slain Wall Street Journal reporter and his kidnappers has confessed to working with high-level al-Qaida operatives, police said Saturday.

Pakistani police arrested Hashim Qadeer on July 28 in the eastern city of Gujranwala in connection with Daniel Pearl’s murder. Pearl was kidnapped on Jan. 23, 2002, in the southern city of Karachi and later beheaded.

British-born Ahmed Omar Sheikh has been sentenced to death for masterminding Pearl’s murder. Amjad Hussain Farooqi, a reputed al-Qaida point man, was linked to the slaying and died last year in a shootout with Pakistani security forces. Three other defendants in the case – Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Mohammed Adeel – were given life sentences.

All have appealed.

Qadeer will soon be handed over to investigators in Karachi, Abbas said.

Pearl, 38, was chief of the Journal’s South Asia bureau when he was kidnapped while researching a story on Islamic extremists. A videotape of his murder was later delivered to U.S. officials.

Pearl started his journalism career in Massachusetts at the North Adams Transcript and The Berkshire Eagle.

The journalist’s execution and beheading was videotaped by his kidnappers, and his remains were found in May 2002 in a shallow grave on Karachi’s outskirts.

Five suspects in the murder remain at large.

AP-ES-08-06-05 1957EDT