Dubai: Amidst reports that some aides of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim had been detained here, Dubai police has said four expatriates including three Indians were in their custody for their alleged criminal links.

Major General Sharafuddin Mohammed Hussain, Assistant Commander of Dubai Police, said on February 4 three Indians and a Nepalese national, have been detained in connection with the murder of an Indian Sharad Shetty, a close associate of Dawood Ibrahim.

Declaring that the Dubai police was getting tough with people suspected of criminal connections, he said a group of them have already been ordered to go out of the country.

The crackdown on criminal activities, he said, had been launched at the direction Dubai police chief Major General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim in co-ordination with the Interior Ministry.

He said the actions being taken were neither arbitrary nor tyrannical but these were intended first and foremost to protect people's lives and to preserve security in society.

"We are not targeting a specific nationality, but are getting rid of all unwanted elements who are a threat to public safety," he said adding a list of individuals believed to have underworld links had been sent to Ministry of Interior.

Reports in Indian newspapers had said that at least five of Dawood's gangsters including his brother Noora and close associate Mohammed Dossa, wanted in connection with the 1993 serial bomb blasts at Mumbai, had been detained.

PTI