MUMBAI: The Narcotics Control Bureau on Wednesday moved the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) court and got permission to take the custody of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim’s brother Iqbal Kaskar as part of a probe into drug trafficking that had its origin in Kashmir.
NCB is also examining if the trafficking is part of terror funding.
Kaskar has been lodged in Thane Central jail since 2017 in connection with an extortion racket.
Iqbal Kaskar who was deported from UAE in 2003 is the only sibling of global terrorist Dawood Ibrahim living in Mumbai.
Sources said that NCB team on Thursday will take his custody from Thane jail and will produce him before Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Court and seek permission to take his custody.
Officials said that once the MCOCA court grants them permission, they will produce Iqbal before the 8th Metropolitan Magistrate court and seek his custody.
In September 2017, the Thane Police had arrested Kaskar on the charges of extortion.
He was booked under MCOCA following a complaint by a builder for allegedly extorting money from him since 2013.
Iqbal’s name cropped up during the investigation of two cases of drug trafficking in which 27 kgs hashish worth Rs 20 crore was seized.
NCB claims the quality of hashish seized by them indicates it is from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK).
The NCB last week carried out a search of a boarding facility in Dadar and arrested Rajvinder Singh and Gurmit Singh from whom they seized 2 hashish.
Duo had travelled from Kashmir via Punjab to Mumbai on a bike carrying the drugs.
Simultaneously the NCB arrested five more persons and their interrogations led to the seizure of a motorcycle on Tuesday from which they recovered another 9 kgs of hashish.