Earlier, Iqbal Kaskar was picked up from the Thane Jail and taken to the NCB office under a production remand for interrogation, said Sameer Wankhede, Zonal Director, NCB.

 

The fast-paced developments came after Iqbal Kaskar's name cropped up during the investigation of some of the accused persons arrested in a series of seizures of narcotic substances effected by the central agency in Mumbai.

 

Lodged in Thane Jail in connection with an extortion cases since the past five years, Iqbal Kaskar was grilled at the NCB office for several hours before being arrested, though the agency kept mum on further details.

 

Suspected of running his brother Dawood Ibrahim's realty empire and other businesses in Mumbai for the past couple of decades, Iqbal Kaskar's name figured in connection with the recent seizure of 15 kg cannabis, which was sent from Kashmir to Mumbai.

 

In 2017, Iqbal Kaskar was arrested by the Anti Extortion Cell of Thane Police by its then chief Pradeep Sharma, who is currently in NIA custody in connection with the planting of an SUV with 20 gelatin sticks near the home of businessman magnate Mukesh Ambani, and the suqsequent killing of its owner Mansukh Hiran.

 

Earlier, the NCB had nabbed two notorious druglords, Arif Bhujwala, allegedly linked to the D-Company, and Parvez Khan, the kin of the late mafia don Karim Lala.

 

The Bhujwala-Pathan duo is said to be closely associated with the narcotics syndicates operated from the Middle East by another brother of Dawood Ibrahim, Anees Ibrahim Kaskar, and is also connected with the drug cartels which are active in the Gulf and Southeast Asia regions.

 

Deported from the UAE in 2003, Iqbal Kaskar faced trial in two major cases pertaining to the murder of a Customs department informer, and illegal constructions in the Sara-Sahara building in south Mumbi, but was acquitted in both th cases.

 

The NCB will also probe his possible role in the drugs angle that emerged after the death of Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June 2020.

 

After his arrest in September 2017, Iqbal Kaskar was lodged in Thane Jail as an undertrial until his fresh arrest by the NCB in a drugs matter on Wednesday.