Marvan-10, one of the seized boats which were allegedly supposed to smuggle red sandalwood to Dubai, is registered in Sri Lanka, documents of the boat have revealed. It is owned by Yakub Hassan Alvi, a native of Gujarat. The smugglers had conspired to evade custom duty on the pretext of exporting coastal goods. On December 2, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) sleuths received a tip-off that a boat registered as Marvan-10 from Viraval, Gujarat, will be reaching Mumbai's waters, where another boat, Ganga Sagar, carrying 23 tonnes of red sandalwood, would transfer the consignment to Marvan-10.
The input also said that the smuggling was being carried out by Mohammad Ali Abubakar Shaikh, 54, and his associates. Both boats were intercepted on December 4 by an Indian Coast Guard vessel. "The boat was registered in the name of Yakub Hassan Alvi and his address mentioned was of Chanakadi in Kutch. The boat had an export license from Viraval in the name of Razzak Kasam Surani," said a police source.
He added that a custom pass was issued to the boat to ferry 92 metric tonnes of maize to Dubai. "Ganga Sagar was registered in the name of Shaikh Yasmin Ibrahim, a resident of Spenta Galaxy building in Wadala (E)," said the officer. "We are investigating the source. The gang had smuggled red sandalwood before too," added the officer. The police have so far arrested 19 people including Ali.
On Sunday, Ali was produced before the esplanade court where his lawyers said he had obtained interim relief from the sessions court. Since the police were not aware about the relief and had arrested him, the magistrate sent Ali to judicial custody.
Profile of an oil mafia don
Known as the oil mafia don in the docks of Mumbai, Mohammad Ali is alleged to be a close associate of Dawood Ibrahim's gang. Ali has 16 criminal offences registered against him from 1989 to 2010. He has earlier been booked in cases of murder, attempt to murder, under Arms Act, Explosives Act, Representation of the People Act, cheating and diesel theft cases.
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