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US slaps sanctions on key Dawood aides Chhota Shakeel, Tiger Memon New Delhi, May 16 The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said US nationals were being prohibited from conducting financial or commercial transactions with Shakeel and Memon and any assets the two might have under US jurisdiction were being frozen. They were being designated as narcotics traffickers pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (Kingpin Act) for their roles as part of a criminal organisation run by Dawood, known as ‘D Company’, a statement posted on the website of the Treasury Department said. It went on to add that Dawood, the alleged mastermind of the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai, was named as a specially designated global terrorist in October 2003 and in June 2006, he was named by the President as a significant foreign narcotics trafficker. Also in June 2006, the Dawood Ibrahim Organisation was named by the President as a significant Foreign Narcotics Trafficker. “The (US) Treasury continues to target the nexus of crime and terrorism in South Asia with today’s action against one of the world’s most notorious criminal organisations,’’ OFAC Director Adam Szubin said. The Treasury Department noted that Shakeel is Dawood’s lieutenant who coordinates for the ‘D Company’ with other organised crime and terror groups
while
It said the Treasury Department would continue to target the financial networks of significant foreign narcotics traffickers and their organisations worldwide using the authorities in the
Kingpin Act. The Treasury noted that Interpol has issued provisional arrest warrants or ‘red notices’ for both Shakeel and Memon, who are Indian nationals. Dawood and his organisation have been involved in international narcotics trafficking activities since the late 1980s. It said their smuggling routes include South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Drug trafficking activities of ‘D Company’ include the smuggling of heroin and hashish from Afghanistan and Thailand to the United States, Western Europe, the Middle East, Latin America
and Africa. Asked for his comment on the decision of the US Treasury, MEA spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said India welcomed any such designation. “It is a reaffirmation of what we have always been saying that narco-terrorism is a threat not only to India but to the world beyond. Any designation of this sort indicates that there is an interest well beyond India to bring these people to justice," he said. Akbaruddin said, "We would also urge that those countries which may harbour any of these should bring them to justice."
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