MUMBAI: Alleged international drug trafficking kingpin Salim Dola, who was deported from Turkey to India in April and is presently in custody of the Vadodara police in a drug trafficking case, has denied any links with fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim.
The 59-year-old class six dropout has told investigators that he acted entirely on his own and did not have any connections with the Dawood Ibrahim gang or its associates, contrary to charges pressed by the Mumbai crime branch, police officers privy to his interrogation by the crime branch told Hindustan Times.
Dola was arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) after being deported to India in April.
The Mumbai police crime branch subsequently obtained his custody and will take him into custody again after his custodial remand in Vadodara ends.
Originally a resident of Cotton Green, Dola fled India in 2018 after being granted bail in a drug trafficking case. While he operated out of Dubai, his name cropped up in several drug trafficking cases here, including the Sangli drug factory bust by the crime branch in 2024, which led to the seizure of around 122 kilograms of high-quality mephedrone (MD), valued at ₹253 crore.
“Though Dola has been denying any link with the Dawood Ibrahim gang, our teams have found his involvement in the June 2025 kidnapping of an Uttar Pradesh-based drug supplier who had failed to honour a deal with Dawood’s right hand man, Chhota Shakeel,” said a crime branch officer.
Quick rise
Dola, originally hailing from Morbi in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, used to live in Cotton Green before he fled India in 2018.
“Born into a middle-class family, he soon developed ties with the Dawood Ibrahim gang and started his career in crime by smuggling gutkha in Mumbai and Delhi. He then started smuggling weed and was arrested by the NCB in 2012 with 80 kilograms of the contraband in his possession,” the officer quoted earlier said.
Dola drew attention of central agencies after he was caught by the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC) of the Mumbai police in December 2018 while trying to smuggle 100 kg of 1-Phenethyl-4-Piperidone – the precursor to the opioid Fentanyl – to Mexico. According to investigators, he was smuggling the ₹1,000-crore consignment on behalf of fugitive drug lord Kailash Rajput – one of the biggest manufacturers of synthetic drugs who fled India in 2014 and is believed to be hiding in an African country.
Dola and his aides had falsely declared the chemical as “Organic Sacha Inchi Powder”. He had also started manufacturing Button, a synthetic drug, with Rajput’s help, investigators suspect.
In 2018, the alleged drug lord was granted bail barely four months after his arrest, as the seized chemical tested negative for Fentanyl. He soon fled the country and started operating from Dubai, followed by Turkey.
In 2024, the Mumbai crime branch busted an MD manufacturing unit in Sangli district and seized around 122 kg MD, valued at ₹253 crore. According to investigators, alleged MD-maker Pravin alias Nagesh Ramchandra Shinde, 34, had undergone training in making the synthetic stimulant in Varanasi and he had set up the factory in Sangli to manufacture the contraband for Dola’s syndicate. Shinde had come in contact with Dola in 2016 via other jail inmates when he was briefly in prison.
Based on the request of the crime branch in connection with the Sangli drug factory bust, the Interpol issued a Red Corner Notice (RCN) against Dola. In July 2025, his son Tahir and nephew Mustafa Mohammad Kubbawala, who allegedly looked after the MD-making unit in Sangli, were deported from the United Arab Emirates to India and arrested by the crime branch.
Meanwhile, in June 2025, alleged Uttar Pradesh-based drug dealer Sajid Electricwala was kidnapped and rescued nearly a month later from Banda district, where he was allegedly held captive. According to crime branch officials, Chhota Shakeel’s henchmen had advanced ₹50 lakh to Electricwala for producing and supplying MD, and he was kidnapped with the help of Dola’s associates after he failed to supply the contraband or returned the money.
The crime branch has already charge-sheeted Dola and Chhota Shakeel’s brother Anwar in the Electricwala kidnapping case, after finding that they were in touch with the alleged kidnappers via various mobile applications. Dola had set up the MD-making unit in Sagli under Anwar’s instructions and the same work was entrusted to Electricwala in Uttar Pradesh as Anwar was keen on expanding the business, investigators said
“We have already applied stringent sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the case and will seek Dola’s custody as well,” said the officer quoted earlier.
The probe thus far into the Sangli drug bust has revealed that Dola has acquired several properties in Dubai, Mumbai and Gujarat and the same would be exposed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in its money laundering probe against Dola and his alleged syndicate, investigators said.
“We believe Dola’s deportation is a major big achievement towards India’s zero tolerance policy for narcotics, as he was a big player operating especially in synthetic drugs. He operated a transnational drug trafficking syndicate spanning a number of countries in the Middle East, Africa and Europe manufacturing and supplying drugs, and controlled a major, multi-state trafficking network in India as well,” said the police officer, adding that records show that Dola used to deal in heroin, charas, mephedrone, mandrax and methamphetamine.
