Earlier, the New Delhi police arrested four associates of Dubai-based don Dawood Ibrahim in the Capital and recovered some arms and ammunition from the contract killers, the police claimed. While three shooters Afroz Alam, Raunak Abbas and Mahawat Ali were nabbed from a hotel near Jama Masjid on Sunday, Abid Qureshi, the fourth suspect, was arrested yesterday, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ajay Kashyap said.

Claiming that the Dawood associates were assigned to kill a businessman in Mumbai, he said, ``This is a major detection of aninternational criminal gang working across borders.''

Acting on specific information that Afroz Alam and Raunak Abbas were making frequent telephone calls from the hotel to Dubai, Pakistan and Muzaffarnagar, a special investigation team kept a watch on the hotel, police said. On sustained interrogation, the duo admitted they were waiting for delivery of weapons. Once in Mumbai, they were to contact `Papa' who was to identify the target, police said. Police claimed that Qureshi had sent Afroz and Raunak to the Capital to collect weapons and money despatched by Dawood Ibrahim's close associate Zargam Zaidi.

Zaidi whose alleged target was one Mansoor and his family, had contacted Qureshi to arrange for two men to execute the murders, police said.