South Africa: ‘Gold Mafia’ Whistle-Blower Places Wanted Terrorist Dawood Ibrahim in Gupta, Zuma Circles

Dawood Ibrahim is one of India’s most wanted terror suspects and is accused of working with the Taliban. An Al Jazeera exposé places him in this country during Jacob Zuma’s presidency – and in State Capture circles.

In the mid-1990s, Dawood Ibrahim of India was under investigation for mass Mandrax smuggling as he moved around the African continent, including through South Africa.

A Government Gazette showed that Ibrahim, who heads a notorious syndicate called D-Company, was using various aliases, 14 different passports and was associated with al-Qaeda.

Sources in cop circles have for years suspected Ibrahim has had the protection of state elements in South Africa, in apartheid times and in the democracy era – as well as help in other countries.

India’s National Investigation Agency currently lists him as a most wanted “absconder”.

Terrorism and Taliban protection

A previous Indian government notice said Ibrahim ran “an international underworld crime syndicate and is involved in perpetrating acts of terror, promoting religious fundamentalism, terror financing, arms smuggling, circulation of counterfeit currency, money laundering, narcotics, [and] extortion.”

In 2003, the US labelled him “a Specially Designated Global Terrorist”. It also released a fact sheet on Ibrahim, saying he was the son of a police constable and became one of India’s most “pre-eminent criminals”.

“In the late 1990s, Ibrahim traveled in Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban,” the fact sheet said.

“He is currently…