Agencies Posted online: Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at 1354 hours IST
Islamabad, July 31: The United States has asked Pakistan to hand over India's 'most wanted' fugitive and international terrorist Dawood Ibrahim for his alleged links to al-Qaeda-related terrorists groups and involvement in the global heroin trade, a daily reported on Tuesday.
The US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) have sought assistance from Pakistan's Interior Ministry, Anti-Narcotic Force (ANF) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to hunt down Dawood in the Islamic nation, The News quoted sources as saying.
In fact, Dawood has been described by the American agencies as "an al-Qaeda facilitator now living in Pakistan who has already been placed in the same category as top al-Qaeda operatives with Interpol issuing a special notice against him".
According to the DEA, Dawood is involved in large-scale shipment of narcotics to the United Kingdom and western Europe and its smuggling routes from South Asia, the Middle East and Africa have shared links with Osama bin Laden's terror network.
However, only the Interior Ministry has responded to the request of the US agencies so far, saying that any such help was impossible since no such person by the name of Dawood Ibrahim lived on Pakistan soil.
