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Bangladesh

DawoodŽs agents received money from Pakistan

2009-06-09

[Bangla Daily Star] Detectives have found a good deal of money transactions from Pakistan to the arrested accomplices of underworld crime boss Daud Ibrahim through Western Union Money Transfer. Whoops! Investigation Officer (IO) of the case Inspector Mohammad Ashraf Hossain said one Fahim Mach Mach alias FM FM being so much cooler an alias than the more accurate FMM. had recently sent Tk 1.5 lakh to National Bank, Mohammadpur branch. Abdul Rouf Daud Merchant, Zahid and Arif Hossain used to collect the money on monthly basis, he added. Assistant Commissioner (AC) Mohammad Mohibul Islam Khan of Detective Branch (DB) of police told The Daily Star that they would officially send letters to National Bank and Western Union to provide the names of people who received the money. Oh dear. Not good for those who were suddenly much wealthier. AC Mohibul said Daud Ibrahim and Chhota Shakil had been trying to establish their stronghold in Bangladesh after their crime empires in India, Pakistan, Dubai and Iran. IO Asharaf said they are investigating whether the employees of Western Union Money Transfer and National Bank had any link with the gang while disbursing the amounts. However, quoting bank sources he said they disbursed the money after identifying the men concerned by examining their national identity cards. The IO said they had submitted a prayer to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner for transferring the four arrestees including Kamal to the Task Force for Interrogation (TFI) cell. With the latest arrest of Arif the DB has so far arrested three Indian nationals and their Bangladeshi host Kamal. So much for Bangladeshi generosity.

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Bangladesh

Some politicians helped Dawood spread crime web

2009-06-08

[Bangla Daily Star] Detectives have found some political leaders and influential people in Bangladesh to have close relations with international mafia don Daud Ibrahim. The police suspect the influential people maintain close link with Daud to get his support in expanding their businesses in Dubai, a stronghold of the Mumbai-based mafia don. "The names of a number of political leaders and influential people surfaced during interrogation of two detained accomplices of Daud. We're now verifying what kinds of relations they maintain with him," Deputy Commissioner (DC) Monirul Islam of Detective Branch (DB) told The Daily Star. He however refused to reveal the names and identities of the influential people at this stage of investigation. Meanwhile, the detectives arrested another accomplice of Daud Indian national Arif Hossain at Krishi Market in Mohammadpur in the city Saturday night. The police have so far arrested three of Daud's accomplices since May 27 who are either convicted or accused in criminal cases including for murders. The police claim they came to Bangladesh to accomplish the gang's long-term assignment, but the arrestees say they were just hiding here. DB sources say the arrested Indian criminals came to Bangladesh at the directive of Chhota Shakil, who is next to Daud Ibrahim. The sources add Shakil handles his network in Bangladesh over cellphone so tactfully that his operatives here even don't know each other. ARREST OF ARIF A DB team raided the Krishi Market area after squeezing information out of detained Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant and Zahid Sheikh and arrested Arif. During interrogation at the DB office on Minto Road, Arif said Chhota Shakil sent him Tk 1.5 lakh through Western Union last week to provide legal support to Rauf and Zahid, sources say. The sources also say Shakil was keeping regular contact with Arif over cellphone to discuss means to free Rauf and Zahid on bail. Arif was running a meat shop at Krishi Market since he came to Bangladesh and residing at a rented house in Mohammadpur Housing Society. He told The Daily Star at the DB office that he is accused and arrested in connection with a murder in India. Sakil sent him to Bangladesh in 2001 as he was freed on bail in 2000 after serving around seven years behind bars. "I received Tk 10,000 per month but after my marriage I am receiving Tk 16,000. In this country I was registered as a voter and was living here as a stranded Birhari." Arif admitted without hesitation that he and another gangster gunned down Amar Sohana Bhaskar Shethe in Mumbai in 1993 at the directive of Shakil as Shethe allegedly led the damage to the historic Babri Mosque. He said he was arrested the same year in connection with that murder. Arif married a Bangladeshi national and the couple has two daughters, he said, adding they are trying to settle in Bangladesh by becoming citizens on Shakil's instruction.

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Bangladesh

Dawood has 20 paid women agents in Bangladesh

2009-06-06

[Bangla Daily Star] Police believe at least 20 women are working in the country to expand the network of international mafia godfather Daud Ibrahim. The investigators are yet to get details of those women and their whereabouts. They suspect that their job was to find and persuade people into the network of the underworld gang. Chhota Shakil, second-in-command of Daud Ibrahim's gang, used to pay those women through one of his Bangladesh-based gangsters Zahid Sheikh, a Detective Branch (DB) Police source said. Zahid, an Indian national, admitted to investigators that he recently received Tk 4 lakh from India. Investigators said they are now trying to find out the channel through which Zahid received money from India. Zahid has been hiding in Bangladesh since 2001 and was in Brahmanbaria on May 27 with Abdul Rouf Daud Merchant and their Bangladeshi host Kamal Mian. Both Daud Merchant and Zahid are on an eight-day remand. "Checking Zahid's cellphone memory list we have come to know about the 20 women," an investigator told The Daily Star. Wishing anonymity, the investigator said Zahid maintained regular contact and relation with the women but he is yet to give details about them. "Once we arrest some of the women we will know more about their role and the network of Daud Ibrahim's gang," he said, adding that they suspect that more than 150 highly-paid agents have been working in the country for Daud Ibrahim. Zahid disclosed sensational information to the investigators. He said Daud Ibrahim visited Khulna area in 1996 but he did not know details of the visit. He said he first met Daud Ibrahim at hotel Sayana in Mumbai. He used to know him as Raja Bhai, the DB official said. Chhota Shakil maintained the gang so efficiently that the gang members do not even know each other. Giving an instance, the DB official said while Zahid came to the country first through Benapole in 2001, Chhota Shakil sent a man with a blue car to receive him from a place near Zia International Airport in Dhaka. The man took him to Banani in the capital and from there another man took him to a hotel at Mohakhali where he stayed until he rented a house in Mohammadpur area. Zahid told investigators that he never saw the two persons again during his long stay in the country. Meanwhile DB police interrogated Brahmanbaria Municipality councillor Faruq yesterday and they will interrogate the mayor of the municipality today. DB sources said councillor Faruq said Kamal Mian, who is known to him, took Daud Merchant to him and told him that Daud Merchant was a resident of the municipality. Councillor Faruq in good faith attested an application without verifying his nationality.

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Bangladesh

Zahid Sheikh held first in 2004, got bail

2009-06-02

[Bangla Daily Star] Detained Indian underworld gangster Zahid Sheikh, a close aide of Indian-born crime boss Daud Ibrahim, along with his Indian accomplice Raju were earlier arrested at Dhaka in March 2004 by Mohammadpur police. Mysteriously, they were released on bails soon after being produced before a Dhaka court. Did any bank accounts mysteriously grow significantly larger? Sources from Detective Branch (DB) said Zahid had admitted his escape from India after killing three people in Mumbai eight years ago. Zahid, however, claimed that he and his associates killed three Shib Sena members in Mumbai for tortures on Muslims, DB officials said. DB officials also said Zahid had been roving India and Bangladesh -- often without passport -- and maintaining Daud Ibrahim's network in the region under Chhota Shakil's direction. DB sources said both Zahid and Raju were arrested under section-54 of Criminal Procedure Code on charges of their suspicious movement and activities. "With such criminal record his bail from the court of law then is still a riddle." Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AKM Shahidul Haque told The Daily Star adding, "Another mystery is that how he managed to avoid arrest during his presence in the country." Asked, the DMP Commissioner said another arrested Indian criminal Abdur Rouf alias Daud Merchant came to Bangladesh under Zahid's supervision. Daud Merchant, a convict awarded lifetime for killing music baron Gulshan Kumer, had been trying to set up a network jointly with Zahid Sheikh. "We are investigating into what Zahid had been doing and looking for the people he had been maintaining contacts with," Commissioner Shahid said adding, "We are also trying to unearth the reason behind Daud Merchant's intrusion in the country." A DB source said Zahid disclosed names of some individuals in Dhaka and the detectives are trying to nab them. Both Daud Merchant and Zahid were arrested at Brahmanbaria on 27 May last along with their Bangladeshi host Kamal.

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Bangladesh

Rauf came to set up Dawood's crime network

2009-05-31

Indian fugitive criminal Abdul Rauf Daud Merchant came to Bangladesh with a mission to expand the illegal empire of Daud Ibrahim, head of a organised crime syndicate in Mumbai. "Detained Rauf came to Bangladesh to set up a network of Daud Ibrahim," Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner AKM Shahidul Huq said, adding, "We will launch an investigation and dig out their network and their Bangladeshi agents." But both Rauf and Zahid denied the allegation and their link to the Chittagong arms haul. They said that they came just to get holed up to escape the grips of Indian law enforcers. Meanwhile, Rauf, his sidekick Zahid Sheikh and their Bangladeshi host Kamal were taken on an eight-day remand yesterday. At a press briefing at the office of Detective Branch (DB) of police, the DMP Commissioner said they were trying to find out if Rauf had any link to the smuggling of 10 truckloads of illegal arms and ammunition seized in Chittagong. Rauf, sentenced to life for killing Indian music baron Gulshan Kumer on Aug 12, 1997, said he has no link to Dawood Ibrahim. But he confessed to his association with Chhota Shakil, a close aide to Dawood Ibrahim. Shakil had advised him to enter into Bangladesh, as it is a Muslim country and assured him that he would take care if something goes wrong, he added. Another arrested Indian national Zahid also said he has link to Chhota Shakil who gives him Tk 10,000 monthly. Sources said Zahid, a resident of 24 Pargona in West Bengal, escaped from India eight years ago and since then he had been hiding in Bangladesh identifying himself as a Bihari. Rauf in the first week of this month took shelter at Zahid's Shekhertek residence and later they went to Brahmanbaria on May 21.

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