Riyaz Bhatti was arrested in two cases of extortion in October last year and was released on bail on the condition that he will not leave the country.
The Mumbai Police detained gangster Riyaz Bhatti, an aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim at the Mumbai international airport Monday evening when he allegedly tried to escape to United Arab Emirates (UAE), a top police official said.
“Bhatti was arrested by Unit One of the Mumbai crime branch in two cases of extortion registered against him in Amboli and Juhu police station, on October last year and was released on bail as per the court direction and on the condition that he will not leave the country,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime Branch) Santosh Rastogi.
“The Look Out Circular (LOC) had been issued against him already and he was detained by airport authority and Mumbai police was informed. A police team from Unit One brought him to the unit office for legal process. We will produce him in court,” the police officer said.
This is not first time that Bhati tried to flee from the country. He was earlier arrested on October in 2015 at the same airport when he tried to fly to South Africa using a fake passport in the name of Bhatti Phoolji. Bhatti’s original passport expired in 2006 but could not be renewed as he did not get police clearance on account of the criminal cases registered against him at Oshiwara police station.
Bhatti later managed to get a fake passport from Rajasthan with the help of his relative and had gone eight times abroad and travelled out of the international airport in Mumbai 10 times between 2009 and 2012 using the fake passport, police said.
