ED searches 8 city premises in probe against wanted drug trafficker Salim Dola

Dola is wanted by law-enforcement agencies for his alleged involvement in several cases of narcotics trafficking and funding of illegal drug-making/ trafficking networks

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday carried out searches at eight premises in Mumbai, including Dongri, as part of its money-laundering investigation into narcotics-trafficking networks and associates linked to alleged drug kingpin Salim Ismail Dola (57), who is on the run and believed to be abroad.

ED searches 8 city premises in probe against wanted drug trafficker Salim Dola

The agency’s search focussed on detecting and tracing the alleged proceeds of crime generated by the network of Dola and those of his alleged associates, including one helmed by Faisal Javed Shaikh—who is currently in preventive detention in a Chennai jail—and his wife Alfiya. Faisal’s network had allegedly purchased consignments of the banned psychotropic substance, Mephedrone or MD, through Dola’s network, an ED official said on Wednesday.

Dola is wanted by law-enforcement agencies for his alleged involvement in several cases of narcotics trafficking and funding of illegal drug-making/ trafficking networks, the official said. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) had in July announced a reward of ₹1 lakh for information that could lead them to him, which was reported by HT on July 9.

The ED investigation has revealed that a network under its scanner allegedly bought MD through Dola’s network and associates at the rate of ₹7-8 lakh per kg. The contraband was further allegedly sold at the rate of ₹8-10 lakh per kg to three of the network’s clients, ED officials said.

The investigation against Dola’s trafficking network is based on a June 2023 case of the NCB’s Mumbai unit, in which 20 kg of MD was seized from a few suspects during an operation in Dongri. NCB sources said that Dola came under the NCB scanner, as he was the one who had allegedly supplied the contraband to the accused.

The NCB subsequently arrested seven accused in the case, including the alleged main trafficker, Faisal Shaikh. In July, it put Faisal in preventive detention as per the provisions of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act. He was transferred from Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail to Chennai’s Puzhal Central Prison, where his detention was confirmed for a year. In March this year, a joint secretary of the central government issued a detention order against him.

The NCB also froze Faisal’s assets worth ₹6.4 crore, suspected to be the proceeds of his drug-trafficking activities. According to NCB officials, Faisal had three alleged trafficking cases registered against him from 2017 to 2024: a seizure of 68 grams of MD in 2017, 20 kg MD in 2023 and around 900 gram of cocaine in 2024.

The Mumbai police had invoked the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against him in 2005. “This was necessary for his detention under the PIT-NDPS Act to disrupt his influence and operational network in Mumbai,” an NCB official said.

Since June, various law-enforcement agencies have turned up the heat on Dola and his associates’ networks. Dola’s son Taher and his nephew Kubbawala Mustafa were deported to Mumbai from UAE in June and July by the Mumbai police with the help of the CBI. The police took the duo into custody as part of their March 2024 probe into the seizure of 126.14 kg of MD, valued at approximately ₹252 crore in the illicit market.

A non-bailable warrant has been issued against Dola by a local court, and there is a pending Interpol Red Corner Notice against him on the NCB’s request, ED officials said.