In a major setback to gangster Dawood Ibrahim, Dubai authorities on Wednesday night deported to Mumbai his younger brother Iqbal Sheikh Kaskar and a close aide Ejaz Pathan.

"The Mumbai police will take custody of the two," Joint Police Commissioner Sridhar Wagal said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation questioned them soon after their arrival by an Air-India plane.

The duo will be produced in a court on Thursday.

Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said the two gangsters constituted a "very big catch" for the Mumbai police. Pathan, he said, is one of the prime accused in the 1992-93 Bombay bomb blasts, while Kaskar has at least eight to 10 cases of murder, attempt to murder, and extortion against him.

Bhujbal said this success had not been achieved in a day, nor was it exclusively the achievement of any one government or police force. The central and state governments and police forces had worked jointly for a very long time to achieve this. "We had sent our teams to Dubai and other Gulf countries," Bhujbal, who is also Maharashtra's home minister, told rediff.com

"I had also been to these countries where I had met their rulers."

Bhujbal said the deportation of the two gangsters would be a big blow to Dawood, but cautioned against underestimating him or his gang. "These are not the only people," he said. "There are several others. We have given at least 25-30 names to the police forces of the Gulf states."

Bhujbal said the Gulf sheikhdoms had become far more cooperative now and that was why the Mumbai police had been able to get their hands on these two gangsters. "They have also understood the problems of harbouring these people," he said, in an obvious reference to the recent shootout in a Dubai club in which Sharad Shetty alias Bada Idli was killed by members of the Chhota Rajan gang. "Right now," he added, "no one wants to be associated with terrorists."

Bhujbal also clarified that Mohammed Dossa, another of the prime accused in the 1992-93 bomb blasts, is not being brought back at this juncture. He refused to speculate when Dossa would be deported from Dubai, pointing out that the local police has been given several more names for action.