Iqbal Mirchi, a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts, is among the top 50 global drug barons, a United Nations report has said.
According to the report, Mirchi, who has spent the past 15 years in the Essex town of Hornchurch in the United Kingdom, is a senior figure in Dawood Ibrahim's 'D' company.
But Mirchi, in an interview to The Observer on Sunday, claimed that he had no involvement in organised crime or terrorism.
He also claimed to have written to the US State Department expressing outrage about his name being included in the list of kingpins.
"The British, the Indian, and the American police have my address because I have written to them. If I am a kingpin and they want to arrest me, they know exactly where to find me," he said.
Last week, Mirchi's name cropped up during the trial of Hemant Lakhani, a nonresident Indian accused of smuggling a shoulder-launched missile to the US. Lakhani is said to be an associate of the 'drug lord and terror suspect' Mirchi.
Mirchi admitted to have met Dawood Ibrahim in Dubai. "Both of us are from Mumbai. There was some contact but I have never worked for him. While these people are the mafia and kill people, I have never hurt anybody in my life," he claimed.
Magistrates at Bow Street in the UK turned down a request for Mirchi's extradition to India. India did not appeal.
"I have offered to return to India but asked for a guarantee that I would be given judicial protection," Mirchi said.
