SAFEMA Authority upholds NCB order freezing assets worth ₹3.48cr of Dawood-linked city drug trafficker

NCB froze ₹3.78 crore in assets of trafficker Danish Merchant, linked to the Dawood Ibrahim gang, for drug trafficking activities.

MUMBAI: A Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) order to freeze assets worth ₹3.78 crore of city-based narcotics trafficker Danish Merchant, who allegedly has links with the Dawood Ibrahim gang, was upheld by the Competent Authority under the SAFEMA (Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators - Forfeiture of Property - Act) on Thursday.

SAFEMA Authority upholds NCB order freezing assets worth ₹3.48cr of Dawood-linked city drug trafficker

The order had been issued by the Mumbai unit of the NCB. The frozen assets include five bank accounts, an immovable property, cash, jewellery, and two vehicles of Danish and his wife, Henna.

According to NCB officials, Danish ran a syndicate linked to international narcotics trafficker Salim Ismail Dola (59), who Turkey deported to India on Tuesday based on an Interpol Red Corner notice.

“The freezing of assets of the drug syndicate kingpin and his key associate, Danish and Henna, is in line with the Union home minister’s call to dismantle the financial backbone of drug traffickers,” a NCB official said.

The syndicate run by Danish mainly trafficked Mephedrone, a psychotropic narcotic, and it was under NCB’s radar since the seizure of 502 grams of the banned drug from its carrier, Nitin G, on September 19, 2025.

NCB seized another batch of Mephedrone, weighing 839 grams, from Henna’s residence. After this seizure, Henna and Danish reportedly changed their locations frequently across multiple states to evade arrest. The NCB, however, conducted intensive surveillance and traced the couple to a holiday resort in Goa from where they were arrested in October, 2025.

A resident of Dongri, Danish was previously arrested by NCB Mumbai in 2021 in narcotics trafficking cases. He was also booked by Rajasthan police in 2021 and Mumbai police in 2024 in similar cases. Mumbai police had registered eight criminal cases against Danish, following which he was declared as externed (‘tadipaar’) from the Mumbai municipal limits in 2024.