A Mumbai-based operative linked to Dawood Ibrahim, Salim Dola has been brought to India after arrest in Turkey, with agencies probing his alleged role in global narcotics networks.
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A day after being brought to India in a coordinated international operation, Mohammad Salim Dola, a close associate of underworld figure Dawood Ibrahim, was produced before a Delhi court on Tuesday, which granted two days of transit remand to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB). The development has brought renewed focus on the man described by investigators as a key figure in a sprawling international drug trafficking network.
Dola’s arrest in Turkiye and his return to India are being seen as a major breakthrough in the crackdown on cross-border drug networks. He is likely to be taken to Mumbai next, where several narcotics cases against him are already pending.
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According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Salim Dola, 59, is a Mumbai-based operative who has been on the radar of Indian agencies for years. He was the subject of an INTERPOL Red Notice issued in March 2024 and had been absconding since 2020, when he left India for Turkiye.
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Investigators say Dola built and operated a transnational drug trafficking syndicate spread across the Middle East, Africa and Europe. His alleged role was that of a bulk supplier, feeding narcotics into distribution networks within India.
Over the past two decades, his name has surfaced in multiple high-value drug seizures involving heroin, charas, mephedrone, mandrax and methamphetamine in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Officials have described Dola as a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, with some reports suggesting he played a key role in the latter’s alleged drug operations. Agencies believe his network functioned as a critical supply chain link, with downstream handlers operating across Indian cities.
His connections are also under scrutiny in ongoing investigations, particularly after some arrested associates in Mumbai reportedly claimed they were acting on his instructions.
Dola was apprehended on April 25 in Istanbul’s Beylikduzu district by Turkish authorities following a targeted operation. He was allegedly hiding at a residential location when the Narcotics Crimes Division moved in after surveillance confirmed his whereabouts.
He was deported to India and taken into custody by the NCB upon arrival at Delhi’s IGI Airport on April 28 as part of “Operation Global-Hunt”, a coordinated effort involving Indian agencies, INTERPOL and Turkish authorities.
Officials said the move reflects India’s “zero-tolerance policy against drugs” and its push to bring fugitives back through international cooperation.
On April 29, Dola was produced before Duty Magistrate Kautuk Bhardwaj at Patiala House Court. The NCB sought transit remand to take him to Mumbai in connection with a 2023 case.
The court granted two days of transit remand, allowing the agency to present him before the concerned court in Mumbai.
During the hearing, the defence questioned the basis of the case, pointing out that Dola had been outside India since 2020. The prosecution, however, argued that he had been arrested on a non-bailable warrant issued by a Mumbai court and that the grounds of arrest had been duly communicated.
Officials say Dola faces multiple cases in Maharashtra and Gujarat and is also wanted by the Mumbai Police and the Gujarat ATS. Further interrogation by central and state agencies is expected once he is transferred to Mumbai.
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