Gujarat ATS arrests Dawood Ibrahim aide Salim Ismail Dola
The arrest follows Dola's deportation from Turkiye and links him to a Rs 438.64 crore mephedrone seizure in Vadodara.
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested international drug trafficker Salim Ismail Dola on October 31, according to Rediff. Dola, described as a close aide of Dawood Ibrahim, is linked to a December 1, 2022, seizure of mephedrone worth Rs 438.64 crore from a factory in Vadodara district.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) for the ATS, SL Chaudhary, said Dola allegedly supplied chemicals for the manufacturing of the drug and also bought and sold the finished product. The investigation into the Sindhrot village raid, which seized 87.728 kg of mephedrone, identified Dola as a person involved in the case.
Dola was brought back from Turkiye in April this year after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) acted on an Interpol Red Notice issued in March 2024. He had previously moved from Mumbai to Dubai and Kenya before being traced to Turkiye.
The ATS stated that Dola's transnational network allegedly used dummy companies abroad and concealed narcotics in containers of legally exported goods. Dola was also previously associated with international drug trafficker Iqbal Mirchi during the 1990s.
Dola has a history of drug-related cases, including arrests in 1998 for mandrax and in 2013 for charas. He was also linked to a 2018 fentanyl case involving drugs worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore.
The ATS is currently questioning Dola to establish chemical sources, financial transactions, and distribution channels. Officials will also investigate his assets and whether he operated other networks in Gujarat or elsewhere while overseas.