Dawood aide Salim Dola deported to Delhi

Mohammed Salim Dola, a 59-year-old alleged drug trafficker tied to Dawood Ibrahim’s network, was brought to Delhi from Turkiye on April 28 and taken into Narcotics Control Bureau custody. (indianexpress.com) Indian officials said Dola was detained in Istanbul over the weekend in a joint operation involving Turkish authorities after inputs from Indian agencies. He landed in Delhi on Tuesday morning and was moved for interrogation. (indianexpress.com) (hindustantimes.com) The Ministry of Home Affairs said Dola was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice issued at India’s request in March 2024 and was wanted in multiple narcotics trafficking cases. Officials said he had been absconding from Indian law enforcement agencies. (ddnews.gov.in) (newindianexpress.com) Investigators say Dola had been operating from abroad for nearly a decade and was a bulk supplier in a transnational network spanning India, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. Indian Express reported that agencies plan to question him before handing him to states including Maharashtra and Gujarat, where cases are registered. (newindianexpress.com) (indianexpress.com) His name resurfaced in 2024 after a Mumbai Crime Branch probe into mephedrone supply chains traced links from Sangli and Surat to the United Arab Emirates and Turkiye. Hindustan Times reported that investigators also tied him to a 126-kilogram mephedrone seizure in Mumbai. (ndtv.com) (hindustantimes.com) Officials have also linked Dola to older cases, including a 1998 mandrax seizure at Mumbai airport and later cases involving fentanyl, gutkha smuggling and synthetic drugs. Authorities say his syndicate financed production, supplied precursor chemicals and used clandestine labs in Maharashtra and Gujarat. (indianexpress.com) (hindustantimes.com) The return was carried out under the Narcotics Control Bureau’s “Operation Global-Hunt,” which Indian Express described as a three-year drive aimed at around 100 drug fugitives overseas. The same reporting said Dola was the first target brought back under the operation. (indianexpress.com) Union Home Minister Amit Shah called the deportation a “major breakthrough” and said “no place is safe for drug kingpins,” according to multiple reports. The next phase is interrogation, with Indian agencies trying to map Dola’s suppliers, associates and money trails. (indianexpress.com) (devdiscourse.com)