Salim Dola supplied 40-kg MD every month to arrested accused: NCB tells court

The NCB told the court that Dola had supplied around 40kg of mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant, every month, to one of the accused arrested in the case, Faisal Shaikh, who distributed the contraband to peddlers

MUMBAI: International drug trafficker Salim Ismail Dola, brought to India from Turkiye after the Indian authorities sought his custody, has been remanded to the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) until May 8. Dola was remanded on Thursday by a metropolitan court in connection with a June 2023 mephedrone (MD) seizure.

Mumbai, India - April 30, 2026: NCB officials escort Dawood Ibrahim’s close aide Salim Dola for medical at NCB office in Ballard Estate in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/Hindustan Times) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT Photo)

The NCB told the court that Dola had supplied around 40kg of mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant, every month, to one of the accused arrested in the case, Faisal Shaikh, who distributed the contraband to peddlers.

The court allowed the NCB’s plea after noting that the case involved seizure of 20kg of MD – more than the commercial quantity, from a co-accused. The court also noted that the material on record indicated that Dola was the supplier and therefore his custodial interrogation was necessary to unearth the wider network and trail the proceeds of crime.

An NCB team made two MD seizures in Dongri in June 2023 – a haul of 5kg and later 15kg, from two premises, and arrested seven persons. Faisal Shaikh, one of the accused, told investigators that Dola was his supplier.

Shaikh, an alleged distributor, revealed that he regularly procured about 40kg of MD from Dola, every month, by paying him ₹7 lakh per kg and resold it to peddlers at ₹8 lakh per kg, earning ₹40–50 lakh monthly. A parallel financial probe has identified Shaikh’s drug-linked assets of over ₹6.4 crore, which have been frozen.

Shaikh also revealed that he used to communicate with Dola, who had reportedly fled the country seven to eight years ago, through WhatsApp calls and collect the deliveries at a pre-determined spot near JJ Hospital in South Mumbai.

Since Dola, who has at least six drug-related cases registered against him, was not available, the special NDPS court issued a non-bailable warrant for his arrest on September 27, 2024, and a Red Corner Notice (RCN) was also issued against him.

Pursuant to the RCN, Dola was apprehended on Saturday in Istanbul by local authorities and was brought to New Delhi on Tuesday. The Mumbai unit of the NCB took him into custody from IGI Airport and brought him to Mumbai on Wednesday on a transit remand from the Patiala House court.

On Thursday, he was produced before the Esplanade court, which remanded him to the NCB’s custody till May 8.