Is Most-Wanted Don Dawood Enjoying Refuge In Pak?

The Indian list of the fugitive terrorists was handed over to Pakistan only 10 days after the U.S. named two top aides to Dawood Ibrahim as key drug traffickers and placed sanctions on them with a view to restrict their access to global business and financial networks. The U.S. treasury department announced on May 15 that Indian nationals Chhota Shakeel and Ibrahim Tiger Memon are key lieutenants of Dawood in his D-Company operation, which smuggles narcotics around South Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

It further said that Mumbai-born Shakeel, 57, coordinates D Company dealings with other organized crime and terror groups. While, Memon, 52, is wanted by Indian authorities for alleged involvement in the Mumbai bombings of 1993, which killed more than 250 people and he also controls D Company's businesses across South Asia.

As per a press release issued by the U.S. treasury department on May 15, drug trafficking activities of the D-Company include smuggling of heroin and hashish from Afghanistan and Thailand to Western Europe, the Middle East, U.S., Latin America and Africa.

Dawood, who supposedly operates from Pakistan under the shield of the ISI, is one of the most alluring figures in the world of international terrorism, a billionaire gangster and a criminal mastermind who is linked to everyone, from the Al Qaeda to Bollywood stars to the East African drug syndicates.