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Jabir Moti, described in court as a “top lieutenant” of Dawood Ibrahim’s worldwide criminal network, is set to be freed from a London prison and fly out to Pakistan after the US dropped an extradition request for him to face drug trafficking, money laundering and blackmail charges.
Moti, a 53-year-old Pakistani national who is also known as Jabir Motiwala and Jabir Siddiq, had appealed against his extradition order in the High Court in London and was awaiting judgment when the extradition request was withdrawn this week.
The US extradition request had stated that Moti reported directly to underworld don Dawood, who is a designated terrorist and wanted for the 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai.
“Mr Motiwala was granted unconditional bail by Westminster Magistrates’ Court. The USA have withdrawn the extradition request. Therefore, we will not be appealing any decision to grant bail,” said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which appears in court on behalf of US authorities in extradition matters.
Moti has been behind bars at Wandsworth prison in southwest London since his arrest in 2018.
According to sources, Moti now awaits a final UK Home Office sign-off on the bail order and is expected to fly out to Pakistan in the coming days.
The UK Home Office declined to make a statement, saying it did not “comment on individual cases”.Last month, Pakistani media reports claimed that a former FBI agent had come forward stating that his bosses had ordered him to trap Moti at any cost.
The former agent was quoted by Geo News as saying that he had “irrefutable evidence” proving Moti’s innocence.
Besides money laundering, Moti faced extradition to the US on charges of extortion and conspiracy to import unlawful substances such as heroine after his arrest by Scotland Yard’s Extradition Unit in August 2018.
Meanwhile, at the last appeal hearing in the High Court on March 25, Lord Justice Jeremy Stuart-Smith and Justice Robert Jay noted that this was no “straightforward case” as they reserved their judgment, which was expected later this month.
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