M A I N   N E W S

USA interested in Anees Ibrahim
Rajeev Sharma
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 10
The recent arrest of Anees Ibrahim, brother of underworld Don Dawood, in the United Arab Emirates is being seen in diplomatic circles here as having been effected under pressure of the USA.

This is believed to be the answer to the nagging doubt as to why the UAE authorities arrested Anees Ibrahim last week when they had arrested the same man about a year ago and let him off.

Anees was arrested by Interpol in Bahrain about a year back but Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum prevailed upon the Bahrain authorities to hand over Anees to the Dubai police. Anees was brought to Dubai and eventually released.

The USA is understood to be suddenly interested in the operations of the D Company for its recent activities in African countries known for their blatant anti-American policies and for harbouring Islamic terrorists.

The American interest in the Dawood gang is believed to have been heightened ever since the Al Qaida’s meticulously planned but not-so-successful terrorist attacks in Kenya very recently. Of late, senior members of the Dawood gang, including the D Company’s operational chief, Anees, have been frequenting Kenya, sources said today.

Dawood’s Dubai-based close associate Haji Ismail had purchased a cold storage plant and a house in the coastal Kenyan city of Mombasa. A vessel owned by him operates between Dubai-Somalia-Mombasa and is reported to be involved in smuggling activities.

The D Company’s growing activities in Kenya came out in the open when a court in Nairobi charge sheeted Madat Ali Chatur, Dawood’s associate, on September 8, 1997, for fraudulent evasion of tax through declaration of imported goods on March 12, 1996, at the inland container terminal, Embakasi, Nairobi. He was later released on bond of one million Kenyan Shillings.