National Investigation Agency (NIA) officials on Thursday arrested two persons for having alleged links with global terrorists and underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's gang. The agency has alleged that their investigation has revealed that both arrested accused were involved in illegal activities of D-Company and were indulging in terror financing in the western suburbs of Mumbai.
Those arrested are one Goregaon resident Arif Abubakar Shaikh alias Bhaijaan, and his brother Shabbir Abubakar Shaikh, a resident of Shanti Nagar in Mira Road.
According to the NIA, both arrested accused are close associates of Shakeel Shaikh alias Chhota Shakeel, who operates an international criminal syndicate from Pakistan and is involved in extortions, narcotics smuggling and violent terrorist activities in India.
Advocate Apeksha Vora, who represented the accused persons in the NIA court on Friday said, "NIA has claimed the two arrested accused had received a lot of money from Chhota Shakeel. Through the said funding, the accused were supposed to create terror in Mumbai and as per the NIA, some politicians were also on the list of the accused persons. NIA had asked for the custody of the accused persons from the court to ascertain the whereabouts and location of Dawood and Shakeel from them and to unearth what are their plans after which the court granted both the accused NIA custody till May 30."
"I argued in the court that the information about the whereabouts of Dawood and Shakeel can be sought from the Interpol and for this purpose custody of the arrested persons was not required. Also, if the NIA is claiming that a lot of money has been found in the bank accounts of the arrested persons, then NIA has not given any information if their bank accounts are sealed in the remand application," said Advocate Vora.
On May 09, the NIA conducted searches at 24 places in Mumbai and five places in Mira Road. During the searches conducted at the premises of the suspected associates of Dawood Ibrahim, various incriminating materials including electronic devices, documents of investments in real estate, huge cash and firearms were seized.
The agency had also made enquiries with Salim Qureshi alias Fruit, an alleged aide of Shakeel and a few others in connection with their probe.
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 alias Anees Ibrahim Shaikh, Shakeel Shaikh alias Chhota Shakeel, Javed Patel alias Javed Chikna and Ibrahim Mushtaq Abdul Razzaq Memon alias Tiger Memon who are indulging in arms smuggling, narco-terrorism, money laundering, circulation of FICN and are in unauthorised possession/involved in the acquisition of key assets for raising terror funds and working in active collaboration with the international terrorist organization including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Al Qaeda (AQ). This case was registered suo-moto by the NIA on February 03, this year.
The NIA sources said that the D-Company, under Dawood Ibrahim and his associates, have established a special unit for striking terror in 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.
Based on the NIA case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also registered a money laundering case against Ibrahim and his close associates. ED has arrested Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik for allegedly usurping a Rs 300 crore-worth property at Kurla from a local resident with the help of Ibrahim’s late sister Haseena Parkar.
