Pakistani duo, involved in Kandahar hijack, were staying at the Borivli police station.
Two Pakistanis, who served eight years in prison for aiding a bank robbery to fund the 1999 Kandahar hijack of an Indian Airlines flight, will finally be deported on Wednesday, two-and-a-half-years after being set free. Haji Iqbal and Mohammed Asif could not be sent back earlier to Pakistan as there was a delay in completing the complex formalities.
According to the police, the duo was taken to Wagah border by a police team from Mumbai last Thursday and they would be deported to Pakistan on Wednesday after completing the formalities. After their release from Nashik Jail in February 2008, Iqbal and Asif were staying at the Borivli police station, as they were not allowed to live at a place of their choice given the pending deportation exercise.
The Bombay high court had ordered their deportation in 2008, but delays by the Pakistan high commission in completing the formalities led to their prolonged stay at the police station, said senior police inspector Bhagwan Chate of the Borivli police station.
According to the police, Iqbal and Asif were convicted of looting a bank in Borivli and transferring the funds to the masterminds of the hijack. The crime branch had arrested them with three others on the basis of telephone intercepts, involving one of the accused and the hijackers. During their questioning, it was discovered that the two had helped three others to rob Rs7.35 lakh from the Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank in Borivli, added Chate.
Iqbal and Asif had been sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment after they pleaded guilty before the court last year. However, since they had already served the sentence during the trial, they were ordered to be released and deported to Pakistan.
The ill-fated Indian Airlines flight IC 814 to Delhi from Kathmandu, which had 174 passengers and 11 crew members on board, was hijacked by Pakistani terrorists on December 24, 1999 and taken to Kandahar. The hostage drama lasted seven days and finally ended with the release of three terrorists, including Maulana Masood Azhar, the founder of Jaish-e-Mohammed.
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