Despite mounting pressure from the Indian and US intelligence agencies, fugitive Mumbai underworld don and terror chief Dawood Ibrahim and his close associate Tiger Memon -- wanted over their role in masterminding the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts -- are said to be living safely in Pakistan.
Dawood’s sprawling 20,000 sq ft bungalow on Karachi’s chic Clifton road area is guarded round-the-clock by the Inter-services Intelligence(ISI) and Pak Rangers. Although, this is well known to the RAW and the CIA, the Pakistani authorities continue to maintain that they are unable to locate the address mentioned by the two spy agencies.
Intelligence officials said the only option before the Centre now was to put pressure on Islamabad by getting the US agencies to push for the extradition of Dawood and Memon.
“We gave several reports to Pakistan with evidence on Dawood’s links with the terror groups based there and details of how his terror financing ring is being used to carry out the anti-India activities, but the Pakistani authorities always denied his presence in the country in just the same way as they did in Osama bin Laden’s case. For the last 20 years, Dawood had been regarded as a strategic asset by successive Pakistani governments,” sources said.
Dawood and Memon with the help of the ISI had smuggled large quantity of arms, including AK-56 Rifles, pistols, grenades, ammunition and RDX explosives into India through the sea route at Dighi Jetty and Shekhadi Coast in Maharashtra.
According to sources, following the serial blasts Memon was given two safe houses in Dubai and Karachi by the ISI. Two other terrorists -- Dawood’s younger brother Anees and a smuggler Taufiq Jaliawala were also sheltered by the ISI. As per an intelligence dossier on Dawood, both Taufiq and Anees are now running drug syndicates from Karachi.
Another accused Mohammed Dossa, who ferried the arms from Dighi to Mumbai, has also been put up at an ISI safe house in Dubai.
“Dawood was shifted to Doha for a few months after the US Navy SEALs’ ‘Operation Geronimo’ that eliminated Osama in May 2011.
Indian Intelligence agencies had shared all these details in the dossier handed over to Pakistan but no action was taken,” sources said.