Salim Dola, the alleged mastermind behind one of the largest synthetic drug manufacturing and supply cartels operational in India, started out selling gutkha, and has a Dawood Ibrahim connection.
Officers from the Mumbai police crime branch, which is probing a major narcotics case with Dola as a key accused, have told HT that the drug lord has been detained in Turkey’s Istanbul. Dola was detained in a joint operation carried out by the Turkish national intelligence organisation, MIT, and local police units, based on an Interpol red corner notice (RCN). The RCN was issued following a request from India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the gangster was wanted by the Mumbai police.
Who is Salim Dola?
Salim Dola was born into a middle-class family in the Ghodapdeo neighbourhood of Mumbai’s Byculla, reportedly in 1966. He fell into the infamous Mumbai underworld at a young age and befriended Chhota Shakeel, who was then part of Dawood Ibrahim's gang. Slowly, Dola began supplying gutkha in Mumbai and Delhi, police investigations showed.
From gutkha, Dola shifted to marijuana or ‘weed’. and was arrested in 2012 by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) after 80 kilograms of marijuana were found in his possession. He remained in jail for five years before the court acquitted him in the case.
But the real turn came when Salim Dola came out of jail and met Kailash Rajput, a fugitive drug supplier, police officials say.
Dola befriended Rajput, who helped him set up a manufacturing unit for 'Button', a synthetic drug made using fentanyl, which is a dangerous opioid, and sold as tablets or pills.
{{/usCountry}}Dola befriended Rajput, who helped him set up a manufacturing unit for 'Button', a synthetic drug made using fentanyl, which is a dangerous opioid, and sold as tablets or pills.
{{/usCountry}}Mumbai Police’s anti-narcotics cell arrested Dola in 2018 from Santa Cruz with 100 kilograms of fentanyl. He was again out of jail in just four months after a court granted him bail as a forensic report said the samples tested in the case came back negative for fentanyl.
While out on bail, Salim Dola fled to the UAE.
He established a real estate business for his son, Taher, using money routed from the drug trade in India. He later acquired a UAE passport under a different name and fled to Turkey, where he was eventually nabbed.
A crime branch officer told HT that the authorities will try to get the fugitive drug lord extradited through the UAE. “Since India does not have an extradition treaty with Turkey and Dola holds a United Arab Emirates (UAE) passport, we will try to get him extradited via the UAE,” a source said.