After more than a year, wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim was raised by India at the ‘High-Level Open Debate of the UN Security Council: Addressing the Issue of Linkages between Terrorism and Organized Crime’.

On August 6, India highlighted the nexus between international terrorism and organised crime. The greatest example for India is UN-designated terrorist Dawood Ibrahim, who has been living in Pakistan according to intelligence reports, ever since his involvement in the 1993 blast.

Speaking of the connection of this crime syndicate with terrorism from across the border, the statement said, “India has been a victim of terrorism sponsored from across our border. We have experienced first-hand the cruel linkage between transnational organized crime and terrorism. An organized crime syndicate, the D-Company, that used to smuggle gold and counterfeit currencies transformed into a terrorist entity overnight causing a series of bomb blasts in the city of Mumbai in 1993.”

“The attack resulted in the loss of more than 250 innocent lives and damage to property worth millions of dollars. The perpetrator of that incident also, unsurprisingly, continues to enjoy patronage in a neighboring country, a hub for arms trafficking and narcotics trade, along with other terrorists and terrorist entities that have been proscribed by the United Nations,” it added making a clear reference to Pakistan providing safe haven to the head of D-company.

The last time Dawood was mentioned was in July 2019 during a similar discussion when the then envoy to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said, “Terrorism and organised crime are both malicious organisms drawing sustenance from same swamp… D-Company’s illegitimate economic activities from a safe haven that declines to acknowledge his existence are a real & present danger.”

Further, India strongly ”condemned” terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. “There can be no justification for any form of terrorism. And looking for root causes for terrorism is akin to finding a needle in a haystack,” said the India statement.

India suggested five suggestions to counter the symbiotic threat posed by the linkage between terrorism and transnational organized crime:

Top on India’s priority were terrorist organisations like D-Company, Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad. If the international community can successfully defeat the Islamic State then a “similar focus on addressing threats posed by proscribed individuals and entities such as Dawood Ibrahim and his D-Company, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammad, will serve humankind well,” said the statement.

Two, it is important to “hold States accountable for activities that support or encourage terrorism from territories under their control.”

Three, to avoid poor governance and inadequate oversight on financial institutions, Member States should Implement “recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in strengthening the capabilities of governance structure of financial and economic assets should be one of the topmost priorities to counter the menace.”

Four, the UN needs to “enhance its coordination with bodies like the FATF which have been playing a significant role in setting global standards for preventing and combating money laundering and terrorist financing.”

Finally, “Member States should remain vigilant in identifying new trends in linkages between terrorist groups / terrorist individuals and organized criminals” given the new technologies concerning financial transactions, encryption, mode of transportation and delivery that are being used by terrorist networks.

In the wake of coronavirus pandemic that has severely impacted the movement of people and material around the world, India said that terror networks are taking advantage of the crisis.

“While nations are focused on delivering healthcare to their people and on tackling the economic impact of the pandemic, organized criminals have, however, been exploiting the crisis to find new avenues for their crimes including illicit trafficking of natural resources, narcotics, firearms and explosives,” said the India statement.

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