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IB suspects Dawood-Osama tie-up for terror campaign

S Hussain in Bombay

Islamic terrorism may acquire a new, more dangerous dimension on the Indian subcontinent with two most wanted fugitives -- Osama bin Laden and Dawood Ibrahim -- reportedly joining hands.

According to a senior officer in the Bombay office of the Intelligence Bureau, gangster Dawood and his man Friday Chhota Shakeel, who are currently living in Karachi under the protection of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, made two quick trips to Kabul last week.

Exactly what transpired on the trips is not known, though the IB has received indications that the first was to place orders for firearms and the second, to the mountains on Kabul's outskirts, to meet bin Laden, who is touted as Islam's chief crusader (amirul mujahideen).

But what has baffled the IB is that while the first meeting lasted a few hours, the second continued for days, with India's most wanted gangsters becoming bin Laden's guests in his hideaway in a palatial cellar in the mountains near Kabul.

The IB believes Dawood and bin Laden have joined hands to execute subversive activities in Indian cities, most probably Delhi and Bombay.

bin Laden's mercenaries are determined to cause havoc in the country at election time, but they lack sufficient local help in terms of supply of arms, manpower and 'booking' (bribing) government officials.

IB reports say that when Dawood and Shakeel made their first trip to Kabul and placed a huge order for sophisticated firearms, bin Laden's men got wind of it and tipped off their chief. The Arab millionaire-terrorist then sent a message to Dawood and sought a meeting for 'the sake of Islam'.

The gangster and his lieutenant met bin Laden the same week, the IB says.

Neither the IB nor the Research and Analysis Wing has details of the trio's game plan, but they have taken serious note of the meeting.

Rakesh Maria, additional commissioner of police (north-west region), Bombay, confirmed that he too had received reports of the deal between the two fugitives. "We have heard that Dawood and Shakeel made two quick trips to Kabul. The details are not known. But the first trip was about some weapons to be sent to their men in Bombay and the second was for a meeting with a top Islamic leader, most probably Osama bin Laden," he said. Maria is said to have one of the best criminal informer networks in the country.

According to Maria, since the maximum number of gangsters killed in encounters by the Bombay police belong to the Shakeel gang -- 40 out of 65 killed this year -- and their weapons have been seized, the gang is reeling under a severe arms crunch, and hence the trip to Afghanistan.

The IB has sounded an alert in the border areas, especially the Rann of Kutch, which is the best route for the Dawood gang's arms traffickers. The carriers coming from Karachi cross the Kutch border into Gujarat and make their way to Ahmedabad, Dawood's biggest base in India after Bombay, from where they are distributed throughout the country.

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