33 years later: TADA Court convicts 12 in 1993 arms case linked to Dawood Ibrahim in Gujarat
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "33 years later: TADA Court convicts 12 in 1993 arms case linked to Dawood Ibrahim in Gujarat")
Representative image. Photograph: (Unsplash)
The investigation into the case spanned from 1993 to 2018, during which 46 individuals were arrested, while 15 others, including Tiger Memon and Anees Ibrahim, were declared absconders. The trial began in 2018, with seven charge sheets filed against the accused.
A special TADA court in Jamnagar, Gujarat, convicted 12 people in the 1993 arms landing case linked to Dawood Ibrahim to help avenge the Babri Masjid demolition, while 17 others were acquitted after trial on Monday (April 4, 2026). Special public prosecutor Tushar Gokani said that special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act Judge RP Mogera convicted 12 accused, and sentenced 10 of them to five-year rigorous imprisonment, along with two to seven-year RI.
The case is connected to a conspiracy plotted by Ibrahim, later designated as an international terrorist, and his associates residing in Dubai and Pakistan to take revenge for the December 6, 1992, demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. During the activity, they smuggled a huge cache of weapons and explosives, along with RDX, into India by sea.
In response, the Jamnagar B-division police station in July 1993 registered an FIR. The verdict of the case came nearly 33 years after a probe launched for several decades, carried out by now-retired IPS officers P K Jha and Satish Verma, and current CBI Special Director Manoj Shashidhar, Gokani said.
Accused charged with the TADA Act
The accused, including Dawood Ibrahim, were charged under provisions of the TADA Act, the Indian Penal Code, the Arms Act, and the Explosives Substances Act. The investigation spanned from 1993 to 2018, during which 46 individuals were arrested, while 15 others, including Tiger Memon and Anees Ibrahim, were declared absconders. The trial began in 2018, with seven charge sheets filed against the accused.
During the proceedings, 11 accused died and six were acquitted by the Supreme Court of India. Of the remaining 29, 12 were convicted and 17 acquitted by a special TADA court in Jamnagar. Prosecutors established that the conspiracy was planned at Dawood Ibrahim’s residence in Dubai and carried out with support from Pakistan, according to officials.
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Evidence also suggested involvement of Pakistan’s marine security and military personnel in facilitating the arms movement. Local recruits from Bedi village in Jamnagar and the Salaya–Mandvi region in Kutch were allegedly used to bring the consignment into India by sea.
A vessel named ‘Sada Al Bahar’ collected weapons, including RDX, explosives, around 150 firearms, grenades, and bombs, near Karachi from a ship linked to Pakistan’s Marine Security Agency. After remaining at sea for nearly 48 hours, part of the consignment was transferred to another launch, ‘Bismillah’, which headed towards Maharashtra, while ‘Sada Al Bahar’ moved towards the Porbandar coast in Gujarat.
After clearance via satellite phone, the vessel landed at Gosabara, where arms were unloaded and transported to Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. The boat returned to Dubai while locals went into hiding, later exposing the plot. Over a 25-year probe, police seized grenades and rifles, and examined 63 witnesses.
