A top United Arab Emirates official said that arrested gangster Anees Ibrahim, an accused in the serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993, is being interrogated by the Dubai police after being caught for criminal offences.

"Anees, younger brother of Dawood Ibrahim, was picked up as he was suspected of being involved in a number of criminal cases," said Lieutenant Colonel Khalil Ibrahim, director of the criminal investigations department of Dubai.

"Anees is being sought by the Indian government for terrorism-related offences, but here he is involved in a number of cases not related to terrorism or political matters," he told The Khaleej Times.

The officer pointed out that extradition of criminals was subject to international conventions. An Indian police official A K Gupta is in Dubai to convince the UAE police about Anees' involvement in the serial blasts.

Anees has so far wriggled out of two attempts to get him back to India to stand trial. However, at that time, India and the UAE did not have an extradition treaty, which was signed  in October 1999.