New Delhi: Salim Dola, a key drug kingpin and close associate of gangster Dawood Ibrahim, was deported by Turkey to India early on Tuesday.
Indian authorities took him into custody as soon as he landed at the airport.
Officials said that Dola (59) was detained by the Turkish Intelligence Agency and the Beylikduzu police on Saturday, following inputs from Indian agencies.
He was taken in for interrogation as soon as he reached the airport’s technical area. Dola’s extradition was facilitated by the CBI. Interpol had issued a Red Corner Notice against him on the CBI’s request, as he was wanted by the Mumbai Police and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in various cases. The agency will likely release a statement on Tuesday afternoon, as reported by Hindustan Times.
Dola is a key operative who runs Dawood’s drug network and has recently entered mephedrone manufacturing at clandestine laboratories across different states, officials said.
He has been active since the 1980s and was living in Beylikduzu under a false identity. He is originally from Mumbai’s Dongri and has been linked to many drug busts. Dola was arrested by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai Police, and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) before he jumped bail and fled the country sometime in 2018.
“Dola could be handed to the NCB or the Mumbai police. Both agencies have cases against him. He has been active for more than three decades now. His network’s activities have been under surveillance for the past few months,” an official aware of the matter said.
The Mumbai police found his involvement in a 2024 case related to the seizure of around 126 kg of mephedrone in Mumbai and traced the supply chain from Maharashtra to Turkey and Dubai.
He has been named as the main person behind the drug manufacturing and supply chain by people arrested in this case. His son, Tahir Salim Dola, who was named in this case, was extradited from the UAE by CBI last year.
Dola was first arrested on July 28, 1998, at the Sahar airport in Mumbai while trying to smuggle Mandrax tablets, court records reveal. In 2017, he was arrested by the DRI after the agency seized nearly 1,00,000 gutka pouches worth over Rs 5 crore before they could be smuggled to Kuwait via sea. The consignment was seized at the Pipavav port in Gujarat and a godown in the national Capital.
