How I tricked Yakub Memon and his family to return to India

The serial blasts in Mumbai drew worldwide attention. Amidst the outrage in the international community, the Pakistani establishment, particularly the ISI, realised it was no longer safe for the Memons to stay on in Dubai. Tiger left for Karachi on March 14, 1993. Yakub followed, along with other family members. The family was driven to a bungalow called Qasr-e-Rayaz that belonged to Taufiq Jalianwala, Tiger's smuggling partner based in Karachi. Armed guards kept watch and the family stepped out only for prayers at a nearby mosque. In April 1993, they were given passports issued at Islamabad under completely new Pakistani identities.

According to Yakub's account, their life was becoming increasingly complicated and unacceptable to them. The experience of calling each other by new names, living the life of captives, ridden with guilt and insecurity, hiding from the world in an enemy country, had together begun to take its toll. Most of the Memons, including Tiger's wife, Shabana, were inclined to return to India. Yakub was at the head of this plan and took upon himself the role of leading the way for the rest.

Testing waters

With the passage of time, Yakub and the other Memons noticed that the surveillance over them was gradually diminishing. Yakub and his brothers Suleiman, Essa and Yusuf wanted to test the waters further by attempting to travel abroad. In early June 1994, Suleiman and Essa first left for Dubai, ostensibly in connection with business. On June 20, 1994, Yakub travelled to Dubai and returned to Karachi within a week.

At no stage, were they stopped or checked. Clearly, their keepers' guard was down. Yakub contacted his trusted Mumbai-based cousin, codenamed "Suresh" by us, who was most sceptical of the plan but reluctantly agreed to meet him on account of his Chachajaan's (Abdul Razzaq Memon) pleas.

Yakub and Suresh met twice for consultations. During both meetings, Suresh advised him to exercise self-restraint till he (Suresh) had obtained firm legal opinion supporting Yakub's intended move. He required more time to consult trusted lawyers in Mumbai before Yakub took the plunge. But Yakub was adamant. I am not privy to what transpired between his second meeting with his cousin on August 5 when Yakub was arrested by the STF in Delhi. The startling disclosures made by Yakub confirmed the devious and insidious role of Pakistan in the Mumbai terror attacks.

Yakub disclosed that his family members, in the interim, would have fled Karachi and reached Dubai. When I asked him whether they would return to India if contacted, his reply was in the affirmative.

However, they would have to be first traced in Dubai, persuaded and convinced that they would be given a fair trial. Yakub said this difficult and risk-ridden task could only be performed by his cousin, whom he had met twice for consultations before his arrest. Yakub succeeded in convincing him to undertake the mission, though Suresh had serious reservations initially. He (Suresh) went straight to Al Wasl Hotel, where the Memons stayed when in Dubai.

To his utter disappointment, they were not there. But there was one smart thing he did. Knowing that the Memons were fond of food from Delhi Darbar, a restaurant serving traditional Mughlai food at Al Khamara in Dubai, he would park himself there every evening. His patience and presence of mind were to pay dividends. On August 21, he saw two of his cousins, Suleiman and Essa, come there.

Flight plan

My plan was to take the Memons out from Sharjah while keeping the bookings from Dubai alive. I decided to call on AM Bhardwaj, joint secretary in the ministry of civil aviation-cum-CMD of Indian Airlines. I said that I wanted a booking for a group of absconders on the Delhi-bound flight from Sharjah without their names going up on the computer or flight manifest.

He called up the in-charge of Indian Airlines (operations) and directed him to suitably instruct the airlines' Dubai office. I began to get calls from the Air India security staff deployed at the Dubai International Airport.

They were police officers on deputation with Air India's security and vigilance branch, whom I had kept in the loop without giving any operational details.

They informed me of unprecedented activity at the airport and they could sense that something big was in the offing. They further reported that senior officers from the immigration branch and the Pakistani consulate were in animated discussions with each other near the Air India check-in counter, which had not yet started operating for its ensuing flight. I smiled to myself and thought: let the jokers wait at the Dubai airport while their quarries fly out from elsewhere.

It was past midnight when I got a call from Prabhu Dayal (consul general of India in Dubai) that the flight had taken off and the Memons were on board. I couldn't hold back my emotions and started screaming with joy. I had the choicest expletives for the ISI goons on my lips.

(Reprinted with the publisher's permission.)