NIA’s Gosabara excavation finds nothing, called off

AHMEDABAD: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which undertook a massive digging operation about 7km from Gosabara in Porbandar, in search of what was supposed to be a large cache of arms including AK56 and AK47 assault rifles and grenades allegedly smuggled into India from Pakistan by underworld figure Dawood Ibrahim in 1993, turned out to be a wild goose chase. The excavation was called off early on Thursday morning.
Gujarat police sources said NIA had received supposedly ‘credible information’, that along with the dhows Al Sadabahar and Bismillah, which has supposedly sailed from near Karachi loaded with sophisticated weapons and RDX in 1993, another dhow had also landed at a secluded spot near Gosabara.
Al Sadabahar supposedly landed at Gosabara and the Bimillah at Shekadi in Raigarh district. “RDX smuggled by Bismillah was used in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, which killed more than 250 innocent people. The serial blasts were orchestrated by Dawood Ibrahim, his brother Anees, Mohammed Dosa, Tiger Memon, Chota Shakeel and their men to avenge the killing of Muslims in the post-Babri riots of 1992,” a senior police official said.
“According to information received by the NIA, weapons and grenades on the dhow were buried a a spot 7km from Gosabara. The NIA team arrived in Ahmedabad three days ago. We coordinated with Porbandar police which provided the team with an excavating machine on Thursday morning,” said a top Gujarat police officer.
A senior Porbandar police officer said the NIA team, led by DCP Vipul Garg, did not find anything and have returned. The wild goose chase has raised questions about the quality of the information and the sincerity of the informer.