Mohammad Salim Dola, the 59-year-old drug trafficking mastermind who was recently deported to India used the name ‘Hamza’ to mask his identity while living in Turkey, news agency PTI said in a report on Friday. The fake identity was used on a Bulgarian passport under which he had been living in Turkey. It is still under investigation if the Bulgarian passport for valid or not.
Salim Dola was deported to India on April 28 and has been remanded to the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) till May 8. He was detained by the Turkish Intelligence Agency and the Beylikduzu police before the deportation.
His arrest in Turkey was made based on an Interpol Red Notice issued on India's request in March 2024.
His criminal past shows his association with the underworld and Dawood Ibrahim. However, Dola later became central to multiple narcotics trafficking cases in India and had been absconding.
Who is Salim Dola?
Salim Dola is a Mumbai-born drug trafficker on whom the Indian authorities had set sight for a long time. He was first arrested by the NCB in 2012 after 80 kilograms of marijuana was recovered from him. The second arrest came in 2018 when 100 kilograms of fentanyl were recovered as Dola further cemented his association with the drug world.
After some samples tested negative for fentanyl, Dola was granted bail, following which he fled to the UAE and then to Turkey after acquiring a fake passport.
{{/usCountry}}After some samples tested negative for fentanyl, Dola was granted bail, following which he fled to the UAE and then to Turkey after acquiring a fake passport.
{{/usCountry}}“Over the years Dola had established a major transnational drug trafficking syndicate spanning a number of countries in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. His two-decade long criminal antecedents include direct involvement in cases involving multiple high-value seizures of Heroin, Charas, Mephedrone, Mandrax and Methamphetamine in Maharashtra and Gujarat,” the ministry of home affairs said in a release after Dola's deportation to India.
Dola's name emerged as an international drug trafficker associated with Dawood Ibrahim, the NCB reportedly told a Mumbai court, adding that he has been identified as the key supplier of a commercial quantity of mephedrone drug seized from south Mumbai in June 2023.