NEW DELHI: The Russian government has issued a statement saying that it believes that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim was directly involved in the Mumbai terror attacks and his network was used by the terrorists to carry out the multiple attacks.
Moscow, which has been sharing intelligence with India, further believes that Dawood’s drug network, which runs through Afghanistan, was used to finance the terror attack.
Russia has also gone public with its intelligence inputs that point to the involvement of Dawood Ibrahim, who is believed to be operating his vast network from Karachi, in the Mumbai terror attacks.
“The gathered inputs testify that regional drug baron Dawood Ibrahim had provided his logistics network for preparing and carrying out the Mumbai terror attacks,” Russia’s federal anti-narcotics service director Viktor Ivanov said in an interview to Russian government daily Rossiskaya Gazeta. He had further said that the Mumbai attacks were a ‘burning example’ of how the illegal drug trafficking network was used for carrying out terror activities.
Special representative of the Russian president for international co-operation in the fight against terrorism, Anatoly Safonov, who led the Russian delegation at the meeting of the joint working group, has said that the drug network, which finances the terror network, was a joint problem for India and Russia and that the two countries co-operate more closely in the area.
This was reflected in a joint statement released after the talks. The two sides have agreed to work together to track terror funds. “The two sides noted that curbing financing of terrorism is a key component of the counter-terrorism strategy and agreed to strengthen bilateral interaction in this field,” the joint statement said.
Safonov has said that Russia is willing to work with India to “inject new dynamism” in the convention that has been held up over the definition of terrorism. The Russian side had also offered to explain to Indian officials the steps taken by Russia after the Beslan school terrorist attack.
this news published by www.apakistannews.com
