An offer Dawood Ibrahim just could not refuse

New Delhi, Dec 23: Did Dawood Ibrahim ever want to surrender? There have been claims made to that effect by former officers, but in reality the Karachi based don was only testing the waters.

The conditions that he imposed for his surrender were impossible to adhere with and hence the entire episode was nothing but a drama.

What is more pertinent to note here is that Dawood Ibrahim had no choice, but to listen to the ISI. He was being hunted by the Indian agencies and was in desperate need for protection. The ISI was well aware of his situation and made him an offer he could not resist.

"We will protect you only if you give us 40 per cent of your income and if you disagree, we will block your drug trade route," is what the ISI told Dawood.

An offer he could not say no to:
The claims by officials that Dawood wanted to surrender makes for nice reading. However in reality, the don never wanted to surrender. Even if he was thinking of a surrender, he would have to do it at the cost of his billion dollar drug empire. Dawood's area of operation was very much dependant on the Afghanistan-Pakistan route which is one of the leading drug corridors of the world.

This territory is controlled by the ISI and the Taliban and unless any person has the support of these two, doing business here is impossible. Dawood had a lot to worry about after the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. He had been upgraded from criminal to terrorist and India was baying for his blood.

During this period he did make a couple of calls to advocates known to him. He is also said to have spoken to officers in the Central Bureau of Investigation. He was never keen on surrendering and was only testing the waters.

The conditions that he imposed were not possible to fulfil officers have claimed.
However what was more important for Dawood was his protection and also his drug empire. The ISI sensed his desperation and weakness and threw an offer at him. Had he refused that offer it would have meant curtains for his drug business.

Moreover he was not sure about how he would be treated in India and hence had no choice but to bite the ISI's bait.

OneIndia News