HVK Archives: Kathmandu replaces Dubai for Mumbai's underworld
Kathmandu replaces Dubai for Mumbai's underworld - The Indian Express
J Dey
()
22 July 1997
Title: Kathmandu replaces Dubai for Mumbai's underworld
Author: J Dey
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: July 22, 1997
Leniency with trans-border travel documents has further helped criminals
Dubai, the haven for Mumbai's mafia in the 80s and early 90s, is fast being
replaced by Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. Members of the Dawood Ibrahim
gang, in particular, seem to have made the mountain city their haunt.
A tourist paradise, otherwise synonymous with peace and natural beauty,
Kathmandu has already gained notoriety as one of the bases of Pakistan's
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). The Mumbai police have not ruled out
the possibility of the Dawood gang having links with ISI in Kathmandu.
They discovered this soon after sleuths of the Zone VII special squad
arrested a gangster who had planned to kill a Bandra film producer on July 15.
The interrogation of Akram Ahmed Jallaluddin, alias Nepali (23) revealed he
was a member of the Abu Salem faction of the Dawood gang and was based in
Kathmandu.
"The modus operandi of these gangsters is to slip into the country to
commit serious crimes and return to Nepal once the job is completed," zonal
additional commissioner of police Satyapal Singh told Express Newsline.
Investigations have revealed that there were other contract killers
belonging to the Abu Salem faction based in Kathmandu, he added.
"The Abu Salem-Chhota Shakeel-Dawood Ibrahim combination has already
wrought havoc in Mumbai. The gangs have been operating from their bases
beyond the borders of the country, particularly in Pakistan," said Singh,
adding that the possibility of the Kathmandu-based gangs having connections
with ISI could not be ruled out.
Jallaluddin, a former resident of Sansari village in Uttar Pradesh, was
summoned to Mumbai from Kathmandu on July 12 to kill a film producer.
He was nabbed with a 9 mm pistol and 106 live rounds in the posh Carter
Road area of Bandra when he was taking telephonic instructions from Abu
Salem in Dubai about the contract killing, police said.
Interestingly, the Jallaluddin incident has just emerged when Mumbai police
are struggling for the extradition of the Kathmandu-based Naresh Tibriwala.
Abu Salem's hitmen attempted to kill a Bandra hotelier, allegedly at the
behest of Tibriwalla on March 16 this year, say police.
The police are seeking help from Nepal's government to extradite
Tibriwalla. A communication to this effect has been forwarded to the
Ministry of External Affairs in April.
According to police sources, Nepal is considered to be the perfect
destination by members of Mumbai's underworld, since it is networked by
some 30 airlines from this country. There are also regular bus services.
Leniency with trans-border travel documents has added to the woes of
officials, the police added.
The sylvan valleys around Kathmandu witnessed a round of shootouts after
members of the breakaway Chhota Rajan gang clashed with Dawood Ibrahim's
gangsters in 1995. At least five gangsters were killed in the inter-gang
hostilities.
Already, a large number of shops in the once-famous mountaineering
equipment market of Thamel have been overrun by hordes of Kashmiris,
allegedly with ISI connections. The intrusion is alarming in an otherwise
ambient environment which depends on a floating population of tourists, the
police fear.
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