Dawood’s brother Iqbal Kaskar remanded to NCB custody in drugs trafficking case

A team of NCB officials took Kaskar in their custody from Thane Central Jail where he has been lodged after being arrested in a string of extortion cases by the Anti Extortion Cell, which booked him under the stringent MCOCA

A magistrate court at Bhiwandi on Friday remanded Iqbal Kaskar, brother of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, to Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) custody for a day, in connection with seizure of a large quantity of hashish which originated from Jammu and Kashmir.

Iqbal Kaskar. (HT file)

Advocate Advait Sethna, who represented the agency, had applied for Kaskar’s NCB custody for two days -- till June 27, on the ground that Kaskar’s investigation in the drugs trafficking case was imperative and necessary.

Earlier in the day, a team of NCB officials had taken Kaskar in their custody from Thane Central Jail where he has been lodged since 2017 after being arrested in a string of extortion cases by the Anti Extortion Cell, which booked him under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

The current investigation pertains to June 15 arrests of seven persons from Mumbai and Thane and seizure of 17.3 kilograms of hashish from them. Preliminary probe revealed that two of the arrested accused -- Rajvinder Singh and Gurmit Singh -- had travelled from Punjab to Mumbai on bikes, purportedly carrying the contraband in their backpacks, said NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede.

Investigation revealed that Kaskar was the main supplier of the contraband material, said another official. The agency is also investigating the terror angle in the drug supply, as high quality hashish generally comes from Kashmir and lands in bulk in Punjab, from where it is sent mostly to Mumbai, Pune, and Goa, the officer added.

Kaskar, deported from the United Arab Emirates in 2003, was said to be operating Dawood’s real estate business in Mumbai and surrounding areas, the police said. On September 18,2017, the Thane anti-extortion cell arrested him along with two of his accomplices — Mumtaz Shaikh and Israel Sayyed — for allegedly extorting ₹30 lakh from a Thane-based builder.

One more accused Pankaj Hangar, 54, a gambling den owner, was arrested in the case subsequently, as police found he was in touch with Kaskar and Shakeel, a Dawood henchman.

On October 11 the same year,Thane police slapped stringent provisions of the MCOCA on the seven accused: four arrested and three wanted — Chhota Shakeel and two Dawood gang shooters, Shammi and Guddu.

Thane police later found that Kaskar, Sayyed and Shaikh had allegedly extorted gold from a jewellery shop owner. Eventually, Thane police registered two more cases against the gang and Kaskar was named in all. His brother Dawood has also been named as a prime accused in one of three cases.