Dawood Ibrahim and the LeT: Jihadists , the Mumbai underworld, and terrorism

by Ganesh Sahathevan

According to the Indian Express:

Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's henchman, suspected to be a Colaba-based businessman, handed over arms and explosives to Lashkar-e-Toiba militants for carrying out attacks in Mumbai, in what is emerging as the first major joint operation by the Karachi-based gangster and the banned outfit, official sources said.

Ajmal Amin, the only militant arrested during the operation, told interrogators that the dozen ultras who sailed from Karachi had come to Sasool dock from where they were taken first to Cuff Parade and later to Gateway of India in boats arranged by a front man of Dawood, who runs several custom clearing houses in Mumbai, the sources claimed.

Mumbai police and central security agencies have launched a massive manhunt for the businessman considered as a henchman of Dawood, who has been listed as Global Terrorist having links to al-Qaeda by the United States.

The suspect looks after some customs clearing mechanism and also indulges in diesel smuggling for the underworld don, the sources claimed

(http://www.indianexpress.com/story_print.php?storyid=392185)

Dawood Ibrahim  is wanted in India for the 1993 Bombay Exchange bombings and is known to have financed the activities of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (Army of the Righteous), a group designated by the United States in October 2001 and banned by the Pakistani Government -- who also froze their assets -- in January 2002. The U.S. Treasury Department  designated  Dawood Ibrahim under Executive Order 13224 on October 16, 2003.

(http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/js909.htm)

In designating Dawood Ibrahim a SDGT  the US Treasury said:

Dawood Ibrahim ("IBRAHIM"), the son of a police constable, has reigned as one of the pre-eminent criminals in the Indian underworld for most of the past two decades.

IBRAHIM's syndicate is involved in large-scale shipments of narcotics in the U.K. and Western Europe. The syndicate's smuggling routes from South Asia, the Middle East and Africa are shared with Usama bin Laden and his terrorist network. Successful routes established over recent years by IBRAHIM's syndicate have been subsequently utilized by bin Laden. A financial arrangement was reportedly brokered to facilitate the latter's usage of these routes. In the late 1990's, IBRAHIM traveled in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban.

IBRAHIM's syndicate has consistently aimed to destabilize the Indian government through inciting riots, acts of terrorism, and civil disobedience. He is currently wanted by India for the March 12, 1993 Bombay Exchange bombings, which killed hundreds of Indians and injured over a thousand more.

Information, from as recent as Fall 2002, indicates that IBRAHIM has financially supported Islamic militant groups working against India, such as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT). For example, this information indicates that IBRAHIM has been helping finance increasing attacks in Gujarat by LeT. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (Army of the Righteous) is the armed wing of Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irsha (MDI) – a Sunni anti-US missionary organization formed in 1989. The United States added LeT to the list of designated terrorists in October 2001. The group was banned by the Pakistani government, and its assets frozen, in January 2002

(http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/js909.htm)

In 2000 Dawood Ibrahim's  aide told Craig Skehan of Australia’s Sydney Morning Herald  : ``We have people all over the place: in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand.”

(Sydney Link In Tale Of Long-running Gang War ,Craig Skehan, 30 September 2000,Sydney Morning Herald)

Dawood is also believed to have infrastructure and a presence in Africa. In 2006 The Hindu reported :

India's intelligence community believes that Dawood Ibrahim has deep linkages with affluent traders in Mombassa, often individuals of south Asian descent. Anees Ibrahim, Dawood Ibrahim's younger brother, made substantial investments in local shipping, which were used to facilitate the movement of narcotics into East Africa for onward sale in Europe and the United States.

Haji Mohammad Ismail, a magnate with interests in the cold-storage business and shipping, is among several Dubai-based businessmen who has for long faced media allegations of using Somalia, Dubai and Mombassa-based operations to support Dawood Ibrahim's trafficking operations. In 1997, a Nairobi court charged another Dawood Ibrahim-linked businessman, Madat Ali Chatur, with customs and tax-fraud.

http://www.thehindu.com/2006/07/22/stories/2006072225171800.htm

Comments

[John1016]

I want to say - thank you for this!
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