A five-member team of the National Investigation Agency left for Dubai recently to investigate cases related to the involvement of Dawood Ibrahim and his cartel - better known as D-company, for running ‘global terrorist networks and transnational organised criminal syndicate that involves smuggling, hawala extortion.
According to NIA sources, the team will look into various aspects of money laundering and terror funding angles involving the D-Company, the additional leads of which were picked up during more than 150 pan-India recent raids and arrests in connection with the matter of terror funding and radicalisation in the last three months.
The NIA visit also coincides with the recent visit of a high-level Indian finance team in February to firm up modalities to strengthen UAE-India trade relationships that also included representation from the Reserve Bank of India.
The NIA in November had filed a charge sheet naming absconders Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar and his associates for running terror networks and transnational organised criminal syndicate involving funding for terror networks through hawala, supplying drugs and arms and even generating funds through extortion.
The recent Dubai trip of the NIA sleuths gathers significance amidst leads generated during the recent NIA raids and arrests across India in connection with funding for terror and radicalisation besides evidence in the form of digital devices, documents and other materials. Also, the NIA team would delve deep into similar operating patterns of other drug-terror networks being run in several states from Canada, Malaysia and other countries in north India including Punjab, Haryana and J&K among others.
Besides Dawood, the other names mentioned in the chargesheet are members of the D-Company syndicate including Shakeel Shaikh alias Chhota Shakeel, Arif Abubakar Shaikh alias Arif Bhaijaan, Shabbir Abubakar Shaikh alias Shabbir and Mohammad Salim Qureshi alias Salim Fruit, involved in global criminal and terrorist activities including in India and running hawala and extortion activities as well.
According to the NIA sources the chargesheet states that “Investigations have established that the accused persons who are members of the D-Company, a terrorist gang and an organized crime syndicate, had conspired to further the criminal activities of the gang by carrying out various types of unlawful activities. In furtherance of the said conspiracy, they raised, collected and extorted huge amounts of money by threatening and by putting person(s) in fear of death or grievous hurt, for the D-Company, for the benefit of an individual terrorist (Dawood Ibrahim) in the instant case, and with the intention to threaten the security of India and create terror in the minds of the general public”.
The case was registered by the NIA team in Mumbai in March 2022 under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the relevant sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act, 1999 and the Indian Penal Code. Shabir, Arif and Salim are in custody while Dawood and Shakeel who is an UN-designated international terrorists, are absconding from India.