The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) brought notorious drug trafficker Mohammed Salim Dola, a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, from Turkey to India under Operation Global-Hunt. Dola, 58, was detained in Istanbul on April 25 based on an Interpol Red Corner Notice. Union Home Minister Amit Shah called it a major breakthrough.
Salim Dola landed at Delhi's IGI Airport on Tuesday morning and was immediately taken into custody by the NCB. The Ministry of Home Affairs stated that Turkish Intelligence Agency and Beylikduzu police detained him in Istanbul on April 25 following inputs from Indian agencies and a pending Interpol Red Corner Notice.
A Mumbai resident of Dongri, Dola fled to the UAE around eight years ago after jumping bail in 2018. He arrived in Turkey for a vacation in early 2024, where he had been trapped alone after the RCN was issued that year. Over two decades, he was involved in high-value seizures of heroin, charas, mephedrone, mandrax, and methamphetamine in Maharashtra and Gujarat, serving as a bulk supplier to Indian networks for the D-Company.
Operation Global-Hunt is NCB's three-year roadmap, approved by the MHA, targeting 100 drug fugitives abroad linked to fentanyl, cocaine, heroin, and synthetics. Dola is the first success. Home Minister Amit Shah posted on X: "Under Modi government’s mission to ruthlessly smash drug cartels, our anti-narcotics agencies have extended their claws across borders... no place is safe for drug kingpins."
A Delhi court granted two-day transit remand. NCB's Mumbai team took custody to produce him before a competent court there. He faces cases from NCB, DRI, Mumbai Police, and Gujarat ATS.