ED searches in case against drug trafficker Salim Dola yield ₹42 lakh, three cars

The searches focused on tracing the POC – drug sale proceeds – generated by a network of Dola’s associates, one helmed by Faisal Javed Shaikh—who is currently in preventive detention in a Chennai jail

MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday seized ₹42 lakh cash, three second-hand, high-end vehicles, including a BMW car, froze a bank locker and several bank accounts suspected of having proceeds of crime (POC), allegedly related to a well-established narcotic-trafficking network linked to a wanted drug kingpin, Salim Ismail Dola, 57. The agency carried out searches at nine premises in the city as part of a money laundering probe related to Dola, who is believed to be residing abroad.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday seized ₹42 lakh cash, three second-hand, high-end vehicles, including a BMW car

The searches focused on tracing the POC – drug sale proceeds – generated by a network of Dola’s associates, one helmed by Faisal Javed Shaikh—who is currently in preventive detention in a Chennai jail—and his wife Alfiya, who allegedly acquired mephedrone from the former. The ED also suspects that a part of the POC in the case was sent abroad via remittances and searched the premises of a few firms under the scanner in this regard.

ED’s investigation revealed that Faisal and Alfiya allegedly had established a well-structured network for the sale of MD psychotropic drugs acquired from Dola, the official said. Apart from the cash of around ₹42 lakhs, three second-hand luxury vehicles, various incriminating documents, including property details, digital devices, among others, were seized, ED officials said. “Moreover, a bank locker and various bank accounts suspected of having proceeds of crime were also frozen during the search proceedings on Wednesday,” an ED official said.

Faisal was allegedly purchasing MD through Dola, “a notorious drug kingpin,” the ED official said. Dola is wanted by multiple law enforcement agencies for his alleged involvement in narcotics trafficking and funding of illegal drug networks, the official said.

ED’s money-laundering investigation is based on a June 2023 case registered by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB)’s Mumbai unit against Faisal, Alfiya, Ashik Ali, Nasir Khan, Irfan Faruqi, Azim Khan, Faizan Shaikh, M Shahid Chaudhary, and others, for their involvement in operating a drug syndicate in Mumbai. The NCB case emanated from the seizure of 20 kg of MD from a few suspects during an operation in Dongri.

The NCB in July had announced a cash reward of ₹1 lakh for information that could lead to his arrest. After the grant of bail in the NCB case, Faisal, allegedly being a habitual offender, was kept in preventive detention by the NCB in a Chennai jail under the provisions of the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PIT-NDPS) Act.

Apart from the accused persons in the NCB case, ED’s searches had also covered premises of certain persons relating to shell companies, having paper transactions of more than ₹100 crores, as well as a few firms making foreign, outward remittances and having transactions with the accused persons, to ascertain the role of these entities in spreading the POC generated through the sale of drugs and sending them outside India, the ED official said.

ED searches were crucial to trace the forward linkage (movement of drug sale proceeds) and backward linkage (the sources, beneficiaries, and conduits) of funds. This includes whether such proceeds were channelled abroad via modes including illegal hawala channels, shell companies, or trade through mis-invoicing, the ED official said. The seized and frozen assets, including cash, bank accounts, lockers, vehicles, property documents, and digital devices, are being examined by the ED from the angle of establishing the offence of money laundering, the official said.