Mumbai Mid-Day’s senior journalist J.Dey was shot dead in Mumbai two days back. Presented below are two stories of J.Dey that contain startling revelations about Dawood Ibrahim’s gang’s narcotics operation in Gujarat and Maharashtra oil mafias’ Gujarat link. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in his Twitter message termed J.Dey’s killing as shocking, tragic and very unfortunate. But real tribute to J.Dey will be by eliminating the oil mafia and D gang network in Gujarat that J.Dey has narrated in stories presented below. Both stories were done by J.Dey in this year only.

Coastal smuggling gets rich again
By J.Dey, 18 January, 2011

Dawood Ibrahim’s gang is recruiting local criminals from neighbouring states such as Gujarat to smuggle drugs into Mumbai, investigations by the Mumbai police suggest.

Hardcore criminals from border districts of Kutch in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Kashmir are under the scanner of the Mumbai police, said Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Himanshu Roy.

According to Roy, the gangs are using recruits from border towns to smuggle drugs into the city.
And the seizures made so far in this direction could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Investigations carried out by MiD DAY indicated that some of the dhows, plying along the African and Arabian coasts, are often used for ferrying narcotics. And in most cases, vessels carrying livestock are used for the purpose.

Naval route

These dhows usually carry huge consignments of goats and sheep to Dubai and a few other Arab countries.

On their return journey, they drop anchor at a few ports in Iran and Pakistan and often load consignments of drugs in the pretext of refuelling with cheap high-speed diesel.

The vessels usually return with a few dead animals onboard. Consignments of high-quality brown sugar and heroin are often stashed into the rib cage of some of the carcasses.

The dhows, which reek of rotten carcasses and animal excreta, is rarely checked when they enter Indian waters. Some of the ports in Kutch are barely a few hours voyage from some Pakistani ports.

The dhow usually slips into the estuary and berths along one of the 15 nondescript ports that dot the Kutch coast.

The local mafia, who are now working in tandem with the D gang, control villages in and around these ports. According to eyewitnesses, the carcasses are carried to a secluded place and the packets removed.

If a low quality brown sugar is sold for around Rs 4 lakh per kg, high quality Pakistani heroin fetches around Rs 10 lakh per kg.

A survey conducted by MiD DAY revealed that there are hardly any checks along the high seas. Nor are there many anti-narcotics and customs officials posted at the ports that dot the picturesque coastline.

According to sources, Santalia gang is considered one of the main drug smugglers along the Jamnagar- Kutch coasts.

Gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s aide Dawood Khan alias Chhota Dawood is identified as the key operator from across the border.

The drug peddlers adulterate high quality brown sugar and heroin with boric powder and other impurities to make quick money. The hirelings are paid around Rs 10,000 per consignment, which could weigh up to 5 kg.

The dhows, which reek of rotten carcasses and animal excreta, are rarely checked when they enter Indian waters. Some of the ports in Kutch are barely a few hours voyage from some Pakistani ports.

www.mid-day.com/news/2011/jan/180111-Dawood-Ibrahim-smuggling-drugs-Kutch-Pakistani-ports.htm

When blood mixes with oil
By J.Dey, February, 2011

Shady pumps

On the surface, everything seems normal. Not many motorists are aware that there are secret petrol depots amidst forests and some sleepy hamlets, which supply adulterated products to syndicates running some shady petrol pumps in the region.

More than two dozen illicit depots have been raided and 77 persons were arrested as part of the crackdown on the oil mafia for the past few years. Many are booked under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Some of the kingpins have been identified as Laxman Surve alias Dattu. Another key operator is Mulla, who runs his network along the Mumbai-Pune route and is on police lists.

Spot where Additional District Collector of Nashik, Yeshwant Sonawane was burnt alive

Intelligence sources pointed out that petroleum products offloaded at Kandla Port in Gujarat found its way to petrol pumps in Manmad, Kolhapur, Pimpri, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Mumbai.

The fuel sold as petrol was found to be mixed with kerosene and naphtha. The petrol mafia also used closed industrial units in Lote-Parshuram near Chiplun in Ratnagiri district to mix adulterated petroleum products.

Quick buck

Explaining the modus operadi, a senior police officer said that petrol is mixed with naphtha, kerosene, methanol and other cheap substitutes to make quick money. Tankers laden with kerosene from ports in Gujarat find their way to secret depots in the Konkan.

The chemicals are mixed before they are dumped at some shady petrol pumps, often with the connivance of the pump owners. The role of an inter-state gang is not ruled out. The petrol mafia becomes very active during the festival season.

Particularly, when the traffic movement on the national highways is very high. On an average, a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) guzzles around 150 litre of petrol or diesel on a 1,500 kilometer drive from Mumbai to Goa and back.

“One can imagine the volume of business,” ended a police officer who did not wish to be named. With Sonwane’s gruesome murder and Shinde’s death, skeletons are rattling louder than ever in closets.

Yet, looking at the connivance, the convenient blind eye and the sheer scale of corruption tremendous will and a zero-tolerance approach is needed to stamp out this malaise.

http://www.mid-day.com/news/2011/feb/010211-Yeshwant-Sonawane-Popat-Shinde-murder-burnt-alive-oil-mafia.htm