Slum lord, brother-in-law held for possessing firearms

THE HAUL: Rakesh Maria and the ATS team display the seized firearms

Mateen Hafeez | TNN

Mumbai: A 64-year-old slum lord, Ali Hasan Quraishi, and his brother-in-law were arrested on Thursday evening for possessing around a dozen fire arms, including a sten gun. The suspects, said police, were trying to re-organise the Dawood Ibrahim gang in the city.

An anti-terrorism squad (ATS) team received a tip-off on Wednesday about a possible arms delivery on Thursday near Shreyas cinema in Ghatkopar West. Two joint teams led by inspector Ravindra Doiphode, assistant inspector Bhushan Belnekar and sub-inspector Sunil Mane led the trap and caught a 35-year-old auto driver, Nasir Ahmed Shaikh, who was carrying a bag. The police found seven pistols, a gun machine and 74 live cartridges in the bag. “Shaikh told us that he was to deliver this haul on the instructions of his brother in-law, Quraishi, a history-sheeter. When we searched Quraishi’s residence in Jogeshwari, we found four more pistols and 29 live cartridges,’’ said ATS chief Rakesh Maria. All the weapons were country-made. It is still not clear whether the firearms were brought to the city for using in the gang wars. The two suspects were produced before the court and remanded to police custody till June 28.

Maria said that prima facie, the accused belong to the Dawood gang. “No link of terrorism has come to our knowledge so far. We are still questioning them,’’ he added. ATS officials said that Quraishi and his brother-in-law were trying to reorganise the Dawood-gang in the city. “They were in the process of recruiting new boys for the gang,’’ added Maria. However, he was tightlipped about how many boys were recruited in the gang so far. The Dawood gang was crippled in the past two decade during which over 100 members of the gang were shot down in police encounters.

An ATS source said that Quraishi is having nexus with the D-company since a long time. “He came in touch with the D-gang members in the jail for committing various offences,’’ said the officer. They added that Quraishi has been into crime since 1973.

The Times of India, June 26, 2010