FBI suspects Dawood Ibrahim is in Pakistan

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of US suspects that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim is currently in Pakistan after secretly recording his close aide and Karachi-based businessman Jabir Motiwala.

On Tuesday, the second day of Motiwala's extradition hearing to the United States, at the Westminster Magistrates' Court here, Barrister John Hardy, on behalf of the US government, said, "Motiwala was a high ranking member of the D-company, a criminal organisation run by Dawood Ibrahim."

Dawood Ibrahim is wanted in India to face the law of the land for carrying out serial blasts in Mumbai in 1993 in which scores of people were killed and injured.

Hardy also claimed that during his interaction with the FBI agents, the businessman disclosed activities of D-company in India, United Arab Emirates, and Pakistan, The News International has reported.

The FBI's three Pakistani agents, described as CS1, CS2, and CS3 to protect their identity, interacted with Motiwala extensively over the course of more than five years in Karachi and Atlantic City to set up deals for the smuggling of heroin into the US.

The Court was further informed that Motiwala was not aware that those dealing with him were working for the FBI, secretly recording him on audio, video and written form to create evidence against him for arrest and prosecution later on.

Meanwhile, Motiwala's legal team, led by barrister Edward Fitzgerald, claimed that the alleged offences date back many years and the "long delay" between 2014 and 2018. He also raised the issue of illegal methods being used to trap the businessman into committing acts of criminality.

In addition, a psychiatrist specialist told the court that Motiwala is highly likely to commit suicide if extradited to America. The doctor stressed that after reviewing Motiwala's past medical record, obtained independently from Pakistan, it was well established that the businessman has a long history of depression and he had attempted suicide on three occasions.

However, despite Motiwala's denial of allegations, the trial continues at the Westminster Magistrates' Court.

The 51-year-old Pakistani national was arrested in August last year from Hilton on Edgware Road by Scotland Yard's Extradition Unit on the request of the US government to face extradition to America after an FBI probe charged him with money laundering, extortion, and conspiracy to import unlawful substances such as heroin.