A Gujarat-based top hawala trader who is suspected to be part of this racket is on the police radar, sources added.
Fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim's brother Iqbal Kaskar, who has been arrested in an extortion case by the Thane police, has allegedly revealed during his interrogation that he was a key player in a duty drawback racket run from Surat in Gujarat. Police sources said at Kaskar's instance, diamonds would be send abroad, a lower quantity of diamonds would be shown on official records than the actual amount and duty would be evaded.
A Gujarat-based top hawala trader who is suspected to be part of this racket is on the police radar, sources added.
"During his interrogation on Thursday, Kaskar claimed he was part of a duty drawback racket wherein diamonds worth thousands of dollars would be sent abroad.
This would be done under the pretext of legitimate export trade from Surat in a fraudulent manner and duty would be evaded. We are grilling him more about this racket," said a Thane Police officer who is interrogating Iqbal.
A Surat-based hawala operator, who was being probed by the Enforcement Directorate in Gujarat in a hawala case involving a massive amount in March this year, was allegedly connected to Kaskar's duty drawback racket, the officer said.
"We suspect that a few custom officials from Gujarat are also part of this racket. We also suspect that a few shell companies were created to run this racket. There are several things that need to be known about this racket. We are questioning him about the others who were involved in this racket, since when the racket has been functioning, and where the money generated from this racket was invested and how. Once we get all the information, we will inform central agencies concerned with this racket," said the officer.
"Kaskar has also claimed he was a sleeping partner with a few businessman and builders from Mumbai. He also claimed that his brother Dawood Ibrahim was in good health and not critically unwell, as it had been speculated in the past," the officer added.
Earlier this month, Kaskar was arrested by a team led by former encounter specialist Pradeep Sharma who now heads the anti-extortion cell of Thane Crime Branch. Since his arrest, Kaskar has made several revelations about the extortion racket he was allegedly running on the instructions of Chhota Shakeel, a close lieutenant of Dawood. Kaskar also revealed he had spoken to Dawood's wife Mehajabeen over phone last year when she had traveled to Dubai.
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