Oil mafia don Mohammad Ali arrested for smuggling red sanders

The Mumbai Crime branch on Saturday arrested oil mafia don Mohammed Ali for allegedly ordering the smuggling of 23 tonnes of red sanders. Ali was arrested by the Crime branch's Unit 3 after they found link between him and the 18 men who were arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Coast Guard on Friday. Red sanders, weighing 23 tonnes and worth Rs 9 crore, were seized in the raid.

Who is Ali?
A wannabe politician, Mohammed Ali is a notorious diesel smuggler. He was arrested in October 2010 for allegedly killing one of his rivals Mohammed Chand Madar, also a fuel smuggler. Chand was a private shipping firm owner. In 2013, he was granted bail. Ali owns a fleet of 250 trawlers and several cold storage houses near Nhava Sheva.

How's he involved in this case?
His name surfaced during the interrogation of the 18 men arrested on Friday. "Ali is a big catch for us," Deputy Commissioner of Police (detection) Dhananjay Kulkarni said. Ali had ordered for the 23 tonnes of red sanders, Kulkarni said. All the 18 others worked for him.

What was Ali's modus operandi?
The illegal consignment, found in barge MV Ganga that was sailing from Mumbai, was to be transferred to dhow Al Marwan. The dhow, carrying 100 metric tonnes of maize, was bound for Veraval port in Gujarat. The plan was to take the red sanders, along with the maize, to Dubai.

What was the Friday operation?
The Coast Guard and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized sandalwood from MV Ganga and Al Marwan. The boats were intercepted by ICGS Achook and ICGS Subhadra Kumari Chauhan. The two coast guard ships had to fire 8 to 10 rounds before arresting the 18.