New Delhi - Pakistan has detained mob boss and terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and his key associates, who were behind the 1993 Mumbai blasts in India that killed 257 people, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The Times of India quoted intelligence sources saying the Pakistani spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, captured Ibrahim and his associates Tiger Memon and Chotta Shakeel August 2.
The fugitives were rounded up from their hideout near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and taken to a safe-house on the outskirts of the Quetta city, capital of Baluchistan province.
"Sources in Quetta confirmed the detention," an intelligence officer told the newspaper.
The report said the three were detained after the US goernment mounted pressure on Islamabad to hand over Ibrahim and his associates, who are said to be close to al-Qaeda. It also said the intelligence service had acted to pre-empt possible "proactive steps" by Washington.
Last week, the US - which branded Ibrahim a "global terrorist" - said his smuggling routes converge with those used by al-Qaeda to traffic arms.
The Times quoted a senior intelligence officer saying that Dawood and his associates had "ceased to be of much use" to the Pakistan authorities.
The gangland boss is alleged to run a syndicate involved with drug trafficking, extortion and ransom killings. He fled India in the early 1980s. A US government fact sheet accusess Ibrahim's syndicate of involvement with large-scale shipments of narcotics in the UK and Western Europe.
Ibrahim is the key figure accused in the 13 serial blasts in Mumbai in March 1993 that killed 257 people and injured more than 700 others.
He is known to have financed the activities of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), a militant Muslim group behind several daring attacks in India. Local news outlets have reported that he has contacts with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin-Laden.
Ibrahim is one of 20 people whom India has repeatedly asked Pakistan to hand over to face prosecution for terrorist activities.
