New Delhi, Dec. 16: India’s crimebusters can’t recall where they have kept the fingerprints of Dawood Ibrahim’s brother but they have put a finger on his sprawling business interests in Dubai.
Next time you shop at Moins Readymade Garments or pick up a few VCDs from Kings Video in the Emirate, keep in mind that a Delhi dossier says that they belong to the family of India’s most wanted fugitive.
Dawood’s brother Anees Ibrahim, who reportedly flew to Pakistan after being given bail by the Dubai authorities on Thursday, is a key figure in the ‘D’ group of companies, which has businesses not only in Pakistan, but also in the Gulf and in some south African countries.
According to a dossier prepared on D-company, five brothers and three sisters of Dawood are running his multi-million-rupee empire from Dubai. It thrives mainly on extortion, contract killings, kidnappings, drug pushing and counterfeiting currency.
They lead a lavish lifestyle and own more than three houses in Dubai alone. Apart from Anees, Dawood’s other brothers are Noorul Haque alias Noora, Mustaqim, Humayun and Iqbal Hassan.
His sixth brother, Shabir, was killed by the Pathan brothers of the Karim Lala gang in 1981. Dawood is believed to have learnt the tricks of the trade from Karim, who once ruled the Mumbai underworld along with Haji Mastan.
His three Dubai-based sisters are Zaitoon, Farzana and Mumtaz. Only one sister, Hasina, is still in India, in Mumbai. Hasina’s husband Ibrahim Parker was murdered in a Mumbai restaurant some time ago.
Kings Video is in the name of Anees, who manages the D-company’s business. While Noora runs Choice Departmental Store, Humayun owns Moins Readymade Garments and Iqbal Hassan operates an electronic shop in the name of Al Barka Electronics. All these shops are in Dubai.
The government dossier also lists addresses of the houses owned by the Ibrahims. Noora resides in villa no. 4 at Rafi-Al-Mulla in the Jumairah area of Dubai, while Iqbal Hassan lives in the Al Garhood area opposite Dubai airport. Zaitoon lives with Mustaqim and Farzana with Iqbal.
The government profile of the D-family also says that Mustaqim has obtained a Pakistani passport (E424045) under the same name, but with a different spelling — Mustaquim. He took that passport as he was not getting a United Arab Emirates resident visa on his Indian passport, which has since been relinquished. He now has a permanent resident visa of the UAE.
Dawood, who, too, has acquired Pakistani citizenship, stays on the second floor of Moin Place, opposite Abdullah Shah Ghazi Dargah in Karachi’s upscale Clifton area. He shuttles between Dubai and Karachi to supervise his business.
Dawood is said to have climbed the ladder in the mafia hierarchy after he and his brother Shabir were put behind bars during the Emergency in 1975. “They came in contact with the then top brass of the Bombay underworld, dons Haji Mastan and Yusuf Patel, in jail. On release, the two brothers started working as landing agents of smuggled gold and silver for these dons,” the government dossier observes.