India has brought back Salim Dola, a close aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and a central figure in a ₹5,000 crore drug empire, after Turkish authorities deported him following a coordinated intelligence-led operation.
Agencies took Dola into custody at Delhi’s technical airport early this morning, soon after he arrived from Turkey. Turkish authorities had detained him on April 25 in Istanbul’s Beylikduzu district after Indian intelligence inputs triggered action. Officials said he had been living there under a false identity.
The Central Bureau of Investigation coordinated the operation with international counterparts. Interpol had earlier issued a Red Corner Notice against Dola. Investigators also flagged his use of a forged UAE passport, which helped accelerate his transfer despite the absence of a direct extradition route with Turkey.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah described the development as a major success in India’s crackdown on narcotics networks, saying no haven exists anymore for drug kingpins.
Crackdown on a Transnational Drug Network
Investigators identify Dola as a key operator in the D-Company’s narcotics structure. They say he ran a large synthetic drug network valued at over ₹5,000 crore, with operations spanning India, Turkey, Dubai, and Southeast Asia.
Agencies tracked his network for months. Dola coordinated clandestine mephedrone manufacturing units across Maharashtra and Gujarat while managing cross-border supply routes through Dubai and Turkey.
His role came under sharp focus during the 2024 Mumbai-Sangli drug case, where police seized 126 kilograms of mephedrone along with laboratory infrastructure worth ₹253 crore. Arrested operatives named Dola as the mastermind behind the supply chain. Investigators also recovered ₹25.22 lakh during related raids.
From Smuggling Cases to Global Cartel Operations
Dola’s criminal record stretches back over three decades. Police first arrested him in 1998 at Mumbai airport with 40 kilograms of Mandrax. Later, authorities booked him in a 2012 marijuana case and a 2017 gutkha smuggling case involving consignments worth over ₹5 crore.
He began with tobacco and cannabis smuggling before expanding into narcotics under Dawood Ibrahim’s network. Agencies believe he later took control of operations previously handled by senior handlers in the D-Company structure.
He fled India in 2018 while out on bail and continued operations from abroad until international agencies tracked him down in Turkey.
Closing in on the Network
Dola’s return follows a series of coordinated actions against his network. Authorities extradited his son, Tahir Salim Dola, from the UAE last year, which helped investigators map parts of the syndicate. Another close associate also faced deportation from Dubai in a separate action.
Agencies are now probing multiple cases under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act and parallel money laundering investigations linked to hawala channels and cross-border drug proceeds.
Officials said they will produce Dola before a Mumbai court and seek custody for further interrogation. They aim to dismantle remaining layers of the network, including local distributors and financial handlers operating through covert channels.
For Indian agencies, Dola’s return marks more than an arrest. It signals a tightening grip on one of the most entrenched narcotics networks linked to organised crime.
