Indian intelligence agencies scored a major victory on Tuesday as Mohammad Salim Dola, a key operative of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim’s criminal aide, deported from Istanbul, Turkey and landed in India at Delhi’s airport. The operation carried out in close coordination between Indian intelligence units and international law enforcement agencies.
He will be handed over to the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for questioning in multiple drug trafficking cases. Mumbai Police, which has also registered several cases against him & expected to seek custody soon after.
What the Government Said
Home Minister Amit Shah did not take long to comment. In a post on X, Shah said, “Zero tolerance against Narco syndicate. The Narcotics Control Bureau of India today made a major breakthrough in securing the return of notorious drug trafficker Mohammad Salim Dola from Turkey. Under Modi govt’s mission to ruthlessly smash drug cartels, our anti-narcotics agencies have extended their claws across borders through a robust network of global agencies.”
Who Is Salim Dola?
For those unfamiliar with this name, Salim Dola is not a small fish. He worked closely with Dawood’s right-hand man, Chhota Shakeel. His operations began by supplying ghutkha, following which he smuggled weed or marijuana.
The NCB picked him up in 2012 after cannabis was found on him. He walked free after spending five years behind bars. Back on the outside, he shifted gears and set up a production setup for a synthetic drug called “Button,” which is fentanyl-based. 2018 brought another arrest in Santa Cruz, Mumbai, this time with 100 kg of fentanyl involved. That case fell apart within four months when lab reports came back clean, and Dola got bail. He used that window to leave for the UAE without returning.
Mumbai had been his original stomping ground, but he eventually moved his base to Dubai and kept his operations running from there. His alleged drug network, dealing primarily in synthetic substances, estimated to be worth around Rs 5,000 crore.
An Interpol Red Notice had been out against him. He faces a long list of charges under the NDPS Act, 1985. Istanbul Police’s Narcotics Crimes Division ran a targeted operation and picked him up on April 25.
Back in India, raids connected to the case turned up over 126 kg of mephedrone and more than Rs 25 lakh in cash from associates in Kurla, Mumbai. Those associates reportedly told investigators they had been taking instructions straight from Dola.
Why Does Salim Dola Arrest Matters for India?
Officials familiar with the case say drug money from Dola’s network has been finding its way to armed groups operating in India’s northeast. Intelligence inputs suggest that Pakistan’s ISI has a hand in steering narcotics flows into India, with a significant cut of drug profits reportedly going toward outfits like Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Interrogators are hoping Dola’s questioning will surface the locations of drug labs & fill in the blanks around ISI involvement in the narcotics pipeline. The Enforcement Directorate is also circling, with money laundering angles to pursue against him and several associates.
A Series of Successes
This deportation fits into a pattern. In June 2025, Dola’s son Taher was extradited from the UAE. Not long after, a key associate Salim Mohammed Sohail Shaikh was brought back from Dubai and arrested by Mumbai’s Anti-Narcotics Cell. Over the same period, Mumbai Police arrested several people from Dola’s inner circle and brought in family members as part of the same crackdown. The NCB had been keeping pressure on through a Red Corner Notice and a standing cash reward for useful leads.
How did this transit between India-Turkey succeed?
The deportation was possible and successful because of the India-Turkey legal framework. India and Turkey established a formal extradition treaty in 2001, which came into force in June 2002. It was signed by India’s then Home Minister LK Advani and Turkey’s Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk, and marked an important step in improving judicial cooperation between the two countries.
In December 2012, both nations signed an additional agreement focused on the transfer of convicted prisoners.
For Indian security agencies, Salim Dola’s return is more than just one arrest. It is a signal that, for India’s most-wanted criminals, no corner of the world is beyond reach.
