Dawood is connected to India through Bollywood, it is one of the routes through which he can launder his drug money, apart from real estate.
Panaji: People in India mostly connect Dawood Ibrahim with the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts and Bollywood. But Dawood Ibrahim grew his organized crime syndicate beyond Mumbai and Bollywood. He took it global.
Today, when Bollywood and drugs are being linked, it should not come as a surprise to us Indians. Dawood is connected to India through Bollywood, it is one of the routes he can launder his drug money—Bollywood and real estate. The glitz and glamour of Bollywood brings sparkle and also a cover to the nefarious designs of Dawood Ibrahim. Besides, his often spoken about weaknesses for Bollywood damsels is legendary. Money-laundering, prostitution, human trafficking were his known business models, but drug money fuelled terror financing catapulted Dawood Ibrahim to the global playing field. In the mid-2000s, Colombia was being replaced by Afghanistan and Iran as the largest drug-producing regions. Africa reportedly was becoming the laboratory to the world—that processes the raw drugs into the tablet and other forms to be pushed to the lucrative European, US and Asian markets. The Afghan-Iran drugs that were moved across the global market were controlled by Dawood Ibrahim. His drug business flourished under the shelter of ISI in Pakistan. Dawood’s drug money was one of the fuels that spurred on his direct involvement with the terror activities of Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
On 1 June, 2006, US President George Bush designated three foreign individuals and two foreign entities in the seventh annual set of determinations of drug traffickers who will be subject to the sanctions provided in the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (“Kingpin Act”). This action brings the total number of individuals and entities designated under the Kingpin Act to 62 since the first designations were made in 2000.
The US President’s action was voiced determination to do everything possible to pursue drug traffickers, undermine their operations, and end the suffering that trade in illicit drugs inflicts on Americans and other people around the world, as well as preventing drug traffickers from supporting terrorists. The Kingpin Act, which became law in December 1999, targets significant foreign narcotics traffickers, their organizations, and operatives worldwide, denying them access to the US financial system and all trade and transactions involving US companies and individuals.
The Kingpin Act does not target the countries in which these foreign individuals and entities are operating or the governments of such countries. The foreign individuals and entities the President has designated this year as appropriate for sanctions under the Kingpin Act are Dawood Ibrahim (India), Fahd Jamil Georges (Brazil) and Ali Naway (Iran). In fact, in the list of entities, the Dawood Ibrahim Organization that operated in India, Pakistan, and UAE, were also designated under the Kingpin Act, along with Amezcua Contreras Organization (Mexico).
The US Treasury Department today announced that it is designating Dawood Ibrahim as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224 and will be requesting that the United Nations list him as well. The designation froze any assets belonging to Ibrahim within the U.S. and prohibited transactions with U.S. nationals: Here is a copy of the fact sheet:
“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 1990s, 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.
Dawood was designated as a global terrorist by the UN under the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1267 and he is listed in the al-Qaeda sanction list on November 3, 2003 and the United Nations Security Council had also issued a special notice in his name on April 6, 2006.
The United Nations Security Council under QDi.135 Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar was listed as a Global Terrorist:
Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar was listed on 3 November 2003 pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 of resolution 1390 (2002) as being associated with Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden or the Taliban for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf or in support of”, “supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel to” or “otherwise supporting acts or activities of” Usama bin Laden, Al-Qaida (QDe.004) and the Taliban.
Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar has used his position as one of the most prominent criminals of the Indian underworld for most of the past two decades to support Al-Qaida (QDe.004) and related groups. In particular, his criminal syndicate has been involved in large-scale shipments of narcotics and has shared its smuggling routes from South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa with Usama bin Laden (deceased) and his terrorist network. A financial arrangement was brokered to facilitate their usage of these routes. In the late 1990s, Kaskar traveled to Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban.
Information from 2002 indicates that Kaskar had financially supported Al-Qaida-related groups such as Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LeT) (QDe.118). For example, this information indicates that he had been helping finance attacks in Gujarat, India, by LeT.
Kaskar is also wanted in India in connection with the 12 March 1993 Bombay Exchange bombings, which killed over 250 people and injured over one thousand more. Kaskar, his criminal band known as “D” company and other associates continue to engage in criminal activity in India and Nepal. This includes conspiracy to kill political leaders and counterfeiting currencies.
Here is a confidential US Cable on Dawood Ibrahim of 2005 leaked by Wikileaks:
“Dawood Ibrahim was the undisputed kingpin of the Mumbai underworld before he fled India in the 1980s. Indian security agencies believe he was involved in the 1993 Mumbai bombings that killed several hundred people. In 2003, the Department of Treasury designated Ibrahim as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under E.O. 13224. The Indian media is never short of speculation and rumors about his whereabouts and his continued involvement in the Indian underworld. In India, it is widely believed that Ibrahim is living in Karachi, Pakistan, from where he runs his underworld empire. Late last year, however, one Indian newspaper reported that Ibrahim, fearing that his Pakistani protectors might hand him over to the U.S., was actively seeking a new hiding spot in an unnamed third country. The press has also reported that Ibrahim underwent plastic surgery to change his appearance and that he regularly travels outside of Pakistan on forged documents. “Ibrahim knows where he is, but I’m not sure if anyone else does,” was all that Police Commissioner Roy was willing to tell us on the margins of an event in July.”
“If the Mumbai police know the whereabouts of Ibrahim, they are not talking. Although most of the intense media interest in Ibrahim is speculation, Ibrahim continues to cast a broad and sinister web of influence in India. It is also an established fact that his daughter was the focus of an upscale wedding reception in Dubai on July 23 at a hotel carrying a famous American brand name. We find the hotel’s judgment lacking, and its corporate parent ought to be asking some questions of its franchise in Dubai.”
It is time that the Indian government finds a cure to this disease called Dawood Ibrahim.