“Gifts from the Gulf” continues…

The name Farhan Malik somehow stuck at the back of my mind. Asif further disclosed that the weapons were meant for terrorist activities in India and had been sourced from Pakistan. Asif confessed that he himself was a jehadi and had received training in terror camps in Bahawalpur, Pakistan. His boss Aftab too had links with Lashkar e Taiba (LeT) and had met Azam Cheema, the Launching Commander of LeT for India, on a few occasions.

On my return to the Headquarters, I briefed my Director on Asif Raza Khan’s interrogation at the Crime Branch of Delhi Police. The big picture that had emerged, I felt, was that of a gangster Aftab Ansari steeped in jehadi ideology with the potential to cause terror strikes using his vast organized criminal network. ‘‘‘Sir, a new star is rising on the horizon of the Indian crime scene, with all the makings of another Dawood Ibrahim. His gang in India is a well-organized hierarchy of desperate criminals with bases in Dubai and Pakistan,’’’ I reported. My boss thought I was indulging in a bit of hyperbole and was rather dismissive of my hypothesis.

A few days after our interrogation of Asif Raza Khan, the Rajkot Police took Asif’s custody from the Crime Branch of Delhi Police to probe his role in the Bhaskar Parekh kidnapping case of November, 2000. Asif confessed to Rajkot Police to have committed a number of sensational crimes in the company of Aftab Ansari, Amir Raza Khan (his own younger brother) and other gang-members which included Harpreet Singh a.k.a. Happy of Delhi. He further admitted to having jehadi leanings and undergoing training at various terror camps in Pakistan.

To be continued…