INDIA. Mumbai: On Monday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted searches at multiple locations in Mumbai and the surrounding regions associated to the terrorist activities of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar’s (D company) terrorist network and detained a few people for questioning.
“NIA conducted searches at 24 places in Mumbai commissionerate, and five places in Mira Bhayander Commissionerate in a case (No RC 01/2022/NIA/Mum) registered suo moto by NIA on February 3, 2022,” the NIA stated.
“The case pertains to terror/criminal activities of the international terrorist network of D company involving Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and his associates including Haji Anees @Anees Ibrahim Shaikh, Shakeel Shaikh @ Chhota Shakeel, Javed Patel @ Javed Chikna and Ibrahim Mushtaq Razzaq Memon @Tiger Memon who are indulging in arms smuggling, Narco-terrorism, money laundering, circulation of Fake Indian Currency Note (FICN) and are in unauthorized possession/ involved in the acquisition of key assets for raising terror funds and working in active collaboration with international terrorist organizations including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish e Mohammad (JeM), and Al Qaeda( AQ)” NIA said in a tweet.
“During the searches conducted today at premises of the suspected associates of Dawood Ibrahim, various incriminating materials including electronic devices, documents of investment in real estate, cash, and firearms were seized. Further investigation continues,” the NIA added.
The NIA had filed a case in February alleging that top D-Company leadership and operatives, many of whom were stationed abroad, were involved in terror activities, organised crime, and acts intended to cause disturbance in India.
Sharpshooters, drug traffickers, hawala operators, Dawood real estate managers, and other major actors in the criminal network were targeted in raids on Monday in Parel, Nagpada, Bandra, Santacruz, Goregaon, Borivali, Mumbra (Thane), and other places. The NIA is monitoring the gamut of criminal and terrorist acts committed by members of the underworld network run by Dawood from his haven in Karachi, Pakistan.
Detained
The NIA picked up Salim Qureshi aka Salim Fruit, gangster Chhota Shakeel’s aide, from his residence in the Bhendi Bazar area of south Mumbai. Similarly, Suhail Khandwani, Managing Trustee Mahim Dargah & Haji Ali Dargah, was taken into custody. A few others were also taken into custody during the raids.
Salim Fruit was deported to India by the UAE government in 2006 after being accused of organising an extortion ring for Shakeel and Dawood abroad in the early 2000s.He and others were accused under the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) in an extortion case involving Chhota Shakeel.
He was in prison till 2010. In 2016, he was again arrested by the Anti-Extortion Cell of Mumbai police in connection with a case of threatening and demanding Rs 25 lakh extortion from a doctor in Central Mumbai. Fruit and his accomplice were arrested after the Crime Branch laid a trap in that case.
According to official sources, “D-Company has established a special unit for striking terror in the people of India by attacking eminent personalities in India including political leaders, businessmen, and others by using explosives, firearms and other lethal weapons and is planning to instigate and trigger incidents which may lead to the onset of violence in various parts of India, including National Capital Region, Mumbai and other major cities in India.”
Dawood Ibrahim was named a worldwide terrorist by India and the United States in 2003, with a US$25 million reward on his head for his suspected role in the Mumbai serial bombings on March 12, 1993. Extortion, homicide, and smuggling are among the charges against him.
To avoid being placed on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, the Pakistani government sanctioned Dawood Ibrahim and 87 others for terror-related crimes. The list is prepared by the FATF, an intergovernmental body formed to control money laundering. It was established in 1989 by the G 7 summit in France.
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