Iqbal Mirchi in US list of drug peddlers

The United States has put notorious drug dealer Iqbal Mamen alias Iqbal Mirchi on the list of Specially Designated Narcotics Traffickers.

The list, released by the US Treasury Department, provides all four date of births used by Mamen, who is also known as Iqbal Merchant, in his various passports.

The department has also blocked his entry into the US.

Mirchi's passport numbers issued from India and from the United Arab Emirates have also been put on the list.

The move has apparently been taken in view of the drug peddler's attempts to enter the US for setting up business.

India had secured a Red Corner Notice against Mamen, a Mumbai resident, in 1994 after the police unearthed an illegal factory in Pune. The cops seized 1,600 kg of methaqualone, a substance used in the manufacture of mandrax tablets, and 110 kg of mandrax powder. It is alleged that Mamen sold nearly five million mandrax tablets between February and September in 1993.

After the case was registered, Mamen never came to India and is believed to be shuttling between the Gulf and European countries.

Mamen, who had to leave Dubai in 2003 following the murder of underworld don Sharad Shetty, has no direct connection with Dawood Ibrahim. However, security agencies said some deals had taken place between the two in the early 1990s.