New Delhi: Drug lord and Dawood Ibrahim associate Salim Ismail Dola is now formally in custody of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). Wanted in several cases across western India, the international drug mafioso was picked up by the Gujarat ATS from a Mumbai jail on 31 October, a place he reached after his arrest and deportation in Turkey on 25 April.
The Gujarat ATS has arrested Dola in connection with its bust of a factory, employing seven persons, and allegedly operating as a manufacturing unit for mephedrone (MD) drugs.
From a street peddler, Dola had moved into MD production, eventually heading factories that manufactured the drug and capturing the market across western and central India. He rose to become a key production head and later controlled supply networks, according to sources across multiple agencies. Despite being arrested twice, he repeatedly managed to secure bail or evade conviction as cases against him failed.
This latest action comes four years after the ATS raided a manufacturing unit. Police officers told ThePrint that on 12 December 2022, the Gujarat ATS raided a location in Sindhrot village of Vadodara district, where they unearthed an illegal factory engaged in the manufacturing of MD. During this operation, the police said, 87.728 kg of MD, with an estimated international market value of Rs 438.64 crore, was seized.
A total of 10 people involved in this criminal activity were arrested, and a report registered at ATS Police Station under sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985 (NDPS Act).
Dola’s name comes up
The investigation after the 2022 raid revealed that one of the arrested accused, Soumil Pathak, “had come into contact with Mumbai-based Salim Ismail Dola while in jail”.
Investigators concluded that Dola was allegedly the mastermind behind the operation. He was running the manufacturing facility and the broader syndicate from abroad, the source said. “The investigation revealed that Pathak was involved, along with Salim Dola, in the illegal activities of manufacturing and selling narcotic substances such as mephedrone,” an officer of Gujarat ATS told ThePrint.
It also came to light during the investigation that the mephedrone manufactured at Sindhrot was delivered to Aiman Musa Sheikh alias Ayan Khan, also an associate of Salim Dola, in Mumbai. The ATS found out that Salim Ismail Dola was operating an illegal drug trafficking network from abroad.
Accordingly, Gujarat ATS initiated proceedings through Interpol and a Red Corner Notice (RCN) was issued against him.
The Sindhrot drug factory
ATS officers said that intensive interrogation in connection with the Sindhrot Drug Factory case after obtaining his custody has further revealed that Dola was associated with underworld figure and Dawood associate Iqbal Mirchi. “According to information received through intelligence inputs, during the 1990s, when Iqbal Mirchi was involved in the international illegal trade of mandrax, Salim Dola used to work for him by transporting drugs. Subsequently, Salim Dola and his associates established an international network for drug trafficking in India and abroad,” said the ATS officer.
He also said that “narcotic substances were concealed inside containers carrying legally exported goods and transported to foreign countries” through this network. It was also revealed that “dummy companies” were established in countries where the drugs were intended to be delivered.
Intelligence inputs further indicated that Dola was residing in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and was using an Indian passport, ATS said. “Additionally, the investigation revealed that he was using mobile numbers registered in the UAE and Kenya,” said the police.
From peddler to kingpin
Over the years, Dola’s name kept surfacing in one drug investigation after another. The substances allegedly linked to him became increasingly high-profile, starting with ordinary street drugs like marijuana and meth, and going all the way to fentanyl, a synthetic opioid said to be 50 times stronger than heroin. According to sources in the security establishment, his close association with gangster Dawood Ibrahim gave his operations the impetus needed to expand the network.
A source in Maharashtra had earlier told ThePrint that “Dola was heading factories that were producing drugs in bulk across Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh. He became a big challenge for the authorities because of his solid network. Securing raw material, setting up of factories, swift distribution was all controlled by him and his network.”
Dola’s criminal history goes back all the way to 1998, when he was arrested, based on an intelligence input, at Mumbai International Airport with approximately 40 kg of mandrax. This was his first encounter with Mumbai’s law enforcers.
Dola and his associates were allegedly preparing to smuggle a massive consignment of mandrax tablets out of India. The smugglers planned to use the departure gate of the then Sahara Airport on 29 July. The alleged plan involved slipping two suitcases packed with mandrax onto an outbound aircraft. This was to be done by bypassing airport security and customs, allegedly with the help of a senior Air India security officer.
Acting on the tip-off, officers positioned a raiding team near the airport and waited. In the early hours of 29 July, a white Fiat car arrived at the airport. Inside were two men, one of them Dola. He stepped out of the Fiat, opened the boot, and pulled out two suitcases. Each had the letter ‘M’ stamped on one side and a ‘swastika’ sign on the other. They were allegedly filled with Mandrax tablets. Dola was arrested, and the drugs seized. But the case still fell apart. In court, the chain of evidence failed to hold.
Dola was arrested in 2013 by the Anti-Narcotics Cell of Mumbai Police with approximately 79 kg of charas in his possession. In 2017, Dola’s name surfaced in a case registered by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) involving the smuggling of gutkha worth approximately Rs 5.5 crore from Gujarat to Kuwait.
In 2018, action was initiated against Dola by the Mumbai Anti-Narcotics Cell in connection with a fentanyl case involving drugs worth approximately Rs 1,000 crore. In 2022, a case was registered at the Ghatkopar Police Station, Mumbai, under sections of the NDPS Act and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The police further said that, in 2023, the Naroctics Control Bureau, Mumbai, registered a case involving approximately 20 kg of mephedrone under the NDPS Act. Later, in 2023, another case was registered at the Detection Crime Branch (DCB) in Mumbai. Also in 2023, Dola’s alleged involvement also surfaced in another case involving the seizure of mephedrone drugs in Gujarat.
In 2024, a case was registered at Kasigaon Police Station, Thane. In 2025, a case was registered at Antop Hill Police Station, and one at the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Bhopal. Another case registered at DCB, CID Unit-03, Mumbai, accused him under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Finally, yet another case was registered at RCF Police Station, Vasai.
This year, a case against Dola was registered at Tulinj Police Station, Vasai. In 2025–26, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) initiated an investigation into financial transactions, properties and alleged money laundering activities associated with his suspected drug trafficking network.
“Gujarat ATS will now conduct intensive interrogation of the accused to ascertain his exact role in the Sindhrot Drug Factory case, the sources of raw materials used for manufacturing mephedrone, financial transactions, other associates involved in the manufacturing and distribution of drugs, interstate and international connections, and further investigate the entire drug trafficking network,” the Gujarat ATS said.
An MHA statement said, “Over the years, Dola had established a major transnational drug trafficking syndicate spanning a number of countries in the Middle East, Africa and Europe. His two-decade-long criminal antecedents include direct involvement in cases involving multiple high-value seizures of heroin, charas, mephedrone, mandrax and methamphetamine in Maharashtra and Gujarat.”
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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