LONDON:

, an alleged terrorist wanted by Gujarat police for a bomb attack on a train in 1993, and absconding in Britain, was on Wednesday ordered by the Westminster magistrates' court in London to be extradited to India. This is a significant victory for Indian authorities, who have in the past failed to get people suspected to have committed crimes in India to face justice on Indian soil.

Sources said Hanif was closely associated with Dawood Ibrahim and carries information on the activities of

. It is learned that Hanif's ties with Dawood go back to the latter's Mumbai days. Hanif was in charge of Dawood's operations in Gujarat, the state that for long was the chosen route to smuggle in drugs and arms from Pakistan.

Tiger Hanif can appeal the extradition order of a Westminster court but a sources close to the case said he could at best delay the process by “two to three months”.

Sources said that Hanif, much like Dawood, transited from the underworld to hardcore terrorism. He has for some years been working for the D-company and Lashkar-e-Taiba and his extradition could reveal crucial linkages between the two.

Hanif is charged with conspiring to carry out a bomb attack in Surat in 1993, which killed an eight-year-old girl and injured 12 others. In March, 2010, 50-year-old Hanif was traced to a grocery store in Bolton, in Great Manchester, by British police after Interpol circulated Hanif’s photo and description worldwide.

While technically Hanif has a right to appeal against Wednesday’s ruling, the matter is now in the hands of the British home minister to uphold the judgment and send him back to India to face trial.

India’s success in securing Hanif’s extradition, it was learned, was largely due to the determination of British authorities and the Indian high commission in the UK, as officials back in India had apparently lost interest in the case. A notable feature of the proceedings was the arguments of Claire Montgomery, the lawyer appointed by the high commission to plead the case.