Soon after the 1993 serial blasts, Hamza reportedly fled to Nepal, and from there to Dubai. He is believed to be a close aide of Mohammed Dossa, a key accused in the case who is still absconding.
It took the Mumbai police almost 17 years to catch up with Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan alias Hamza, 40, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. He spent the last five of those 17 years right under the nose of the cops at Kopri, Navi Mumbai, a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official said.
The accused procured a new passport in the name of Hamza Abdul Khan in 2005, furnishing original documents, including ration card and Permanent Account Number (PAN) card. With it, he kept flying in and out of Mumbai, and no one was wiser until the crime branch of the police arrested him from his Kopri residence and handed him over to the CBI.
The special task force (STF) of the CBI, which is investigating the case, found the passport while searching Hamza’s home. It showed that he had been shuttling between India, Oman and Dubai, dealing in mobile phone spare parts.
Soon after the 1993 serial blasts, Hamza reportedly fled to Nepal, and from there to Dubai. Believed to be a close aide of Mohammed Dossa, a key accused in the case who is still absconding, Hamza returned to India in 2004, said the CBI sleuth.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that all the documents furnished by Hamza to procure the new passport were original,” he said. “This is a serious offense. We have alerted the local police authorities.” Searching his Kopri home, the STF found evidence that Hamza had applied had applied to the director general of foreign trade for an export-import license at 2008-end.
The CBI official said that sustained interrogation had led to Hamza spilling the beans. He has given vital information about five other 1993 blast accused, including Dossa and Abu Bakr. “He has told us that Dossa and his key aides are living in Dubai, each running his own business. We are trying to build up channels to take action against them.”
Hamza has told the sleuths that he met Dawood Ibrahim. Twice he stayed at the fugitive don’s residence. He used to handle hawala operations and narcotics trade for the D Company.
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