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Salim Dola, a 59-year-old alleged drug lord and close associate of fugitive crime boss Dawood Ibrahim, has been deported to India after Turkish authorities arrested him in Istanbul. The Narcotics Control Bureau is now interrogating him in Delhi.
Salim Dola(HT_PRINT)Salim Dola, a 59-year-old alleged drug lord and close associate of India's most wanted fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, touched down at Delhi airport on Tuesday morning in handcuffs, deported from Istanbul after Turkish intelligence and local police tracked him to a residential hideout in the city's Beylikduzu district, according to news agency ANI.
Salim Dola's arrest, 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, the Dawood Ibrahim Associate Arrested in Turkey?
Salim Dola is not a name that surfaced recently in Indian law enforcement files. A resident of Dongri, the same Mumbai neighbourhood that shaped much of organised crime in India, Dola has been on the radar of narcotics agencies for nearly three decades. He was first arrested in 1998, when he was caught with 40 kilogrammes of mandrax at Mumbai airport. Investigators believe he subsequently rose through the ranks of Dawood Ibrahim's D-Company, eventually taking over narcotics operations previously handled by another senior figure, Salim Mirchi.
After fleeing India nearly a decade ago, Salim Dola continued running a multi-state narcotics network from abroad, allegedly directing operations in Maharashtra and Gujarat through a web of associates while based in the UAE and Turkey.
How Was Salim Dola Caught in Istanbul?
Dola's arrest on 25 April followed a high-stakes operation by the Narcotics Crimes Division of the Istanbul Police Department, working in coordination with Turkey's National Intelligence Organization.
Acting on an Interpol Red Notice issued against him on charges of drug trafficking, Turkish authorities conducted extensive technical and physical surveillance to confirm Salim Dola's exact location before moving in.
Dola was found hiding in a residence in the Beylikduzu district of Istanbul. He was apprehended, processed for deportation, and flown to India. He landed at Delhi's airport on Tuesday morning, where the Delhi Narcotics Control Bureau took him into custody.
According to CNN Turkiye, associates captured during related raids in Mumbai's Kurla area had reportedly confessed to receiving instructions directly from Dola. Those raids yielded a seizure of 126 kilogrammes and 141 grammes of mephedrone alongside 25.22 lakh Indian rupees.
What Charges Does Salim Dola Face in India?
Dola faces a series of charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, which prescribes a minimum ten-year prison sentence for significant violations and maintains stringent bail criteria where commercial quantities of narcotics are involved. Officials are expected to charge him under the NDPS Act as well as additional legislation covering related offences.
A Delhi NCB officer confirmed that Dola would first be interrogated before being handed over to authorities in Maharashtra and Gujarat, where multiple cases are registered against him.
Salim Dola'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 a four-kilogramme mephedrone seizure traced the supply chain from Sangli and Surat back to operations allegedly directed by Dola from the UAE and Turkey.
Investigators describe his syndicate as one that funds mephedrone production, supplies precursor chemicals and operates clandestine laboratories across Maharashtra and Gujarat. He has also been linked to a seizure valued at ₹1,000 crore involving fentanyl, as well as a Directorate of Revenue Intelligence case involving gutka smuggling.
Salim Dola's international network had already taken significant hits before his own arrest. Last year, his son Taher and nephew Mustafa Mohammad Kubbawala were deported from the UAE through Interpol, a development officials said had materially weakened his operations. The NCB had previously announced a reward of ₹1 lakh for information leading to Dola's arrest.
What Happens Next for Salim Dola?
With Salim Dola's now in India's custody, the NCB's interrogation is expected to focus on mapping the full extent of his narcotics network, identifying remaining associates and tracing financial flows linked to D-Company's drug operations.
Salim Dola will subsequently be transferred to Mumbai Police before being made available to agencies across multiple states where cases against him are pending.
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