Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's key aide, Jabir Moti, was arrested by Scotland Yard's Extradition Unit on suspicion of conspiracy to commit blackmail, import illegal drugs and money laundering in the US, the Metropolitan Police said today.
Jabir Motiwala, a Pakistani national, was arrested by the Met Police at a hotel in Paddington area of London last Friday. He was produced at Westminster Magistrates' Court in the city the same day, where he was remanded in custody to appear again on Tuesday.
"A man was arrested by the Met's Extradition Unit at a hotel in the Paddington area on Friday, 17 August, in relation to an allegation of conspiracy to commit blackmail, import class A drugs and money laundering in the USA," a statement by the Met Police said today.
"A warrant had been issued by Westminster Magistrates' Court," the statement said on the arrest of Motiwala, aka Jabir Moti and Jabir Siddiq.
He is believed to be the right-hand man of Ibrahim, managing his investments in the UK, UAE and around the world.
Moti, reportedly in the UK on a 10-year visa, has been described as the financial manager of Dawood Ibrahim – the key accused in the Mumbai serial bomb blasts in 1993.
According to UK Companies House records, Moti is registered as the director of a company named Mac World Trading Limited under the name Jabir Siddiq since May 2012.
The correspondence address for the company is in the Grove Park Avenue area of east London and Moti's nationality and country of residence is listed as Pakistan.
However, as per the account filing history for the company, Mac World Trading Ltd was dissolved in September 2014 via a "compulsory strike-off" action by UK authorities.
"The registrar of companies gives notice that, unless cause is shown to the contrary, at the expiration of three months from the above date the name of Mac World Trading Limited will be struck off the register and the company will be dissolved," states a Companies House notice dated May 20, 2014, following which it seems the company was struck off.
The notice warned that upon dissolution "all property and rights vested in, or held in trust for, the company are deemed to be bona vacantia (ownerless property), and accordingly will belong to the crown".
Curiously, under the "nature of business" section of the company's filing history, it states "to be provided on next annual return", leaving the details of Moti's UK business interests a mystery.
Meanwhile, Ibrahim remains on the UK government's recently-updated financial sanctions list.
Financial sanctions in force in the UK could apply to individuals, entities and governments who may be resident in the UK or abroad.
The measures include prohibiting the transfer of funds to a sanctioned country and freezing the assets of a government, the corporate entities and residents of the target country to targeted asset freezes on individuals or entities.
The UK Treasury department's 'Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets in the UK', updated on August 16, records Dawood Ibrahim Kaskar as the only "Indian" on its annually updated asset freeze list.
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