A cabbie's drive to the underworld

From a telephone booth owner to one of Dawood Ibrahim's important henchmen, Abu Salem's crime career started as a taxi driver in Delhi before shifting to Mumbai.

Salem alias Abdul Saleem Ansari, who was brought to India on Friday morning from Portugal, is wanted in more than five dozen cases by the CBI and various police of the country.

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36-year-old Salem, who hails from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, moved to Mumbai in mid-1980s and engaged himself in petty crimes while operating a telephone booth in the northern suburb of Andheri.

Salem, considered one of the most dreaded underworld figures wanted in connection with more than 60 cases, including bombings, murders, extortion and abduction, became a gun runner with the D-Company of Dawood Ibrahim through his younger brother Anees Ibrahim.

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His job was to take the gang's weapons from one point in the city to another for its hitmen and sharp shooters.

During this period, he was also pushed into the extortion racket by the Dawood gang, where he started collecting money from builders in the city and Bollywood personalities on behalf of Dawood Ibrahim.

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Dawood reportedly operates from Karachi and has been named by the United States as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for funding al-Qaeda militant.