Salim Dola, a 59-year-old alleged drug lord and close associate of India’s most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, landed at Delhi airport in handcuffs on Tuesday morning and was deported from Istanbul after the Turkish secret service and local police tracked him to a residential hideout in the city’s Beylikduzu district, according to news agency ANI.
The arrest of Salim Dola, executed under an Interpol red notice, ends nearly a decade on the run and hands Indian narcotics investigators their most significant D-Company-linked catch in years.
Who is Salim Dola, associate of Dawood Ibrahim arrested in Turkey?
Salim Dola is not a name that has appeared in Indian law enforcement files recently. Dola, a resident of Dongri, the same neighborhood in Mumbai that has shaped much of India’s organized crime, has been wanted by narcotics agencies for nearly three decades. He was first arrested in 1998 when he was caught with 40 kilograms of mandrax at the Mumbai airport. Investigators believe he subsequently rose through the ranks of Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company and eventually took over the narcotics operations formerly run by another executive, Salim Mirchi.
After fleeing India nearly a decade ago, Salim Dola continued to run the multi-state narcotics network from abroad, allegedly directing operations in Maharashtra and Gujarat through a network of associates while based in the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
How was Salim Dola caught in Istanbul?
Doly’s arrest on April 25 followed a high-stakes operation by the Istanbul Police Department’s Narcotics Crimes Unit, which worked in coordination with Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization.
Following an Interpol Red Notice issued against him on drug-trafficking charges, Turkish authorities conducted extensive technical and physical surveillance to confirm Salim Dola’s exact location before he moved in.
Dola was found hiding in a residence in Istanbul’s Beylikduzu district. He was detained, processed for deportation and flown to India. He landed at the Delhi airport on Tuesday morning, where he was taken into custody by the Delhi Narcotics Control Bureau.
According to CNN Turkiye, associates captured during related raids in the Kurla area of Mumbai have reportedly admitted to receiving instructions directly from Dola. These raids yielded the seizure of 126 kilograms and 141 grams of mephedrone along with 25.22 lakh Indian rupees.
What charges does Salim Dola face in India?
Dola faces a number of charges under the Narcotic and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985, which prescribes a minimum ten-year prison sentence for serious violations and maintains strict bail criteria for commercial quantities of narcotics. Officials are expected to charge him under the NDPS Act and other legislation governing related offences.
A National Reserve Bank official in Delhi confirmed that Dola will first be questioned before being handed over to authorities in Maharashtra and Gujarat, where several cases are pending against him.
Salim Doly’s Alleged Narcotics Empire: MD Labs, Fentanyl and D-Company Links
Salim Dola’s role in India’s narcotics trade came into sharper focus in 2024 when a Mumbai police crime branch investigation into the seizure of four kilograms of mephedrone traced the supply chain from Sangli and Surat back to operations allegedly run by Dola from the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
Investigators describe his syndicate as one that finances the production of mephedrone, supplies precursor chemicals and operates clandestine laboratories in Maharashtra and Gujarat. He was also associated with a seizure valued at ₹1,000 crore related to fentanyl and also the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence case related to gutka smuggling.
Salim Doly’s international network saw significant hits even before his own arrest. Last year, his son Taher and nephew Mustafa Mohammad Kubbawala were deported from the United Arab Emirates through Interpol, which development officials say has significantly weakened his operations. The NCB has previously issued a reward of Rs ₹1 lakh for information leading to Dola’s arrest.
What happens next for Salim Dola?
With Salim Dola now in Indian custody, the NCB’s interrogation is expected to focus on charting the full extent of his narcotics network, identifying remaining associates and tracing the financial flows associated with D-Company’s drug operations.
Salim Dola will subsequently be transferred to the Mumbai Police before being handed over to agencies in multiple states where cases against him are pending.
