Unchallenged dons: Gambling kingpins have long tentacles

Ejaz Memon and Waseem ‘Beater’ control the reins as the gambling lords of Karachi.

KARACHI: Shoaib Khan couldn’t have possibly foreseen how his first interactions with Aslam Natha would shape the gambling network in Karachi for decades to come. Natha – who operated a mafia group in the 1990s – took a liking to unruly men such as Khan and his close aide Khalid Shehanshah, who were in jail on murder charges.

Natha made the two men an offer they couldn’t resist: a get out of jail free card on the condition they would carry out a targeted killing at his behest.

“Tell me the name and read tomorrow’s newspaper,” Shoaib Khan told Natha with overweening conceit. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Khan, who went on to assume the mantle of “underworld don”, died mysteriously in a Karachi jail in 2005, but left a legacy that is still being carried on by men who just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

“To comprehend today’s gambling world and its key architects, you need to look at Shoaib Khan and his business model because the only thing that has changed since their departure from the scene is the characters,” a gambler familiar with the inner workings of today’s gambling underworld told The Express Tribune.

After Khan’s death, there was a cooling period in the underworld with no clear successor emerging. However, the cooling would only last till the city would witness the rise of its next ‘dons’.

Today, Ejaz Memon and Waseem ‘Beater’ have taken the reins as the gambling lords of Karachi.

“Everything can be arranged in the gambling world. Bounties, kidnappings and extortion … the options are limitless,” a close aide to Waseem ‘Beater’ told The Express Tribune, adding that gambling was a way of life for the underworld in Karachi, not just a pastime.

Memon and Beater expanded their business from the Ghas Mandi locality and are now known as the kingpins of the gambling world in Karachi as well as rural Sindh.

Beater, a policeman who rose through the ranks from a constable to a sub-inspector after receiving out-of-turn promotions, is thought to be more powerful than the Inspector General of Police in Sindh. A heavy-set man with a flowing moustache, Beater primarily works as a frontman for Memon’s gambling network, while also doubling as a contractor for the police.

Such is the reach of the sub-inspector that when DIG Crime, Karachi, Bashir Memon recently gave a statement in the apex court against Beater, the former was transferred the next morning allegedly at the behest of the latter.

“Their names invoke fear in the hearts of those aware of their reach. One phone call by them can make or break anyone,” said Beater’s close aide. The ringleaders allegedly wield immense influence over top officials in the government, bureaucracy and law enforcement agencies. “They make Rs50 million a day, and shell out Rs60 million to government officers as graft on a monthly basis,” Beater’s associate said.

Beater’s rise

A former Karachi police chief, who is now part of the bureaucracy, orchestrated Beater’s exponential rise. “The police chief thought Beater’s connection in the underworld and his police background would prove an asset for the police force,” a senior police officer requesting anonymity told The Express Tribune. “He was handed the task of managing contracts for Karachi police. While he would take his own cut, he would also give the police a share of the pie,” the police official added.

Even though Memon and Beater have established Ghas Mandi as their headquarters, their gambling network extends to various urban and rural areas in the city, including New Karachi, Defence, Gulshan, Landhi, Korangi, Malir, Tando Adam, Khairpur, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Larkana.

The police official explained that even though Memon is the brain behind the entire operation, Beater manages the day-to-day affairs of the network. “The kids who used to live in apartments in the old areas of the city have now taken their business to foreign shores including Dubai, Singapore and Malaysia,” said Beater’s close aide.

Newcomers not welcome

According to unofficial records, there are approximately 1,200 gambling dens in Karachi – where gamblers bet on everything from cricket matches to ludo.

The police official, who feared his life would be at risk if he revealed his name, said newcomers in the gambling business would first have to seek Beater’s permission and follow instructions from their headquarters. “There is an entire police team dedicated to take action against those gambling operations that haven’t been authorised by Beater,” the officer said, adding that those who went against Beater faced dire consequences, such as fake cases being registered against them.

In less than two years, about half a dozen gamblers including Ishtiaq Ganja, Asif Boot, Junaid Memon, Yousuf Dada and Gulfam have been gunned down in targeted killing incidents in Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2013.