Tiger Memon’s plan, Dawood Ibrahim’s logistics
If the authorities concerned had paid a little heed to the information they received much before the first major terrorist attack on Mumbai on March 12, 1993, the blasts could have been avoided.
The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had received specific information between January 21 to 24, 1993 on major arms and ammunition landing at Rohini and Diggi at Srivardhan in Raigad district by smugglers Tiger Memon and Mohammad Dosa.
Subsequently on 25 January, 1993, both the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Customs commissioner S K Bhardwaj received a tip-off about large consignments of weapons dispatched by the ISI would land at the jetties of Raigad district. Bhardwaj had alerted the Mumbai police, the Indian Navy and his own department.
However, the authorities refused to act. And three days prior to the blasts, the police got another tip-off. This time, it was from Gul Mohammad Khan alias Gullu, a resident of Behrampada in Bandra east, arrested in the December 1992 and January 1993 communal riots. He told the police about his trip with dozen others to Dubai and Pakistan in February 1993 and the plans to attack Mumbai with bombs.
However, the failure of the authorities to act sealed the fate of 257 people who lost their lives in the 13 blasts that rocked Mumbai in span of little over two hours.
Though it is said that fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim had masterminded the attack and was assisted by his aide Ibrahim Mushtaq Memon alias Tiger Memon, it was the other way around. The CBI probe revealed that it was Memon, a resident of fishermen’s Colony in Mahim, who had masterminded the attack, while Dawood provided the logistics.
Memon’s office at Mahim was gutted during the communal riots following the demolition of Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 and he wanted revenge.
On March 9, Memon sent his family, five brothers and their families to Dubai. He himself ensured the smooth functioning of the plan and left for Dubai at 4 am on March 12.
The planing was done at the Al Husseni building at Bandra fishermen’s colony.
The plan was simple, stuff the vehicles such as cars and scooters with RDX and then park them at desired locations. After Tiger left early morning, his aide Javed Chikna oversaw the operations. As Mohammad Iqbal was unable to park a scooter Tiger Memon’s driver Abdul Gani Turk, who rode the a blue commander jeep laden with 25 kg of RDX, parked it near near Regional Passport office at Worli.
As the targets outnumbered the manpower, several members had to do more than one sortie. Farukh Pawle, who drove the white ambassador car and parked it in the basement of Air India building in Nariman Point, had to come back to park a ‘car bomb’ at Mohammad Ali building near Shiv Sena Bhavan near Dadar.
The fishermen’s colony was also among the targets.
A vehicle that was later recovered by the police became the most crucial evidence in solving the blast case as it was registered in the name of Rubina Memon, sister-in-law of Tiger Memon.