Saleem Dulla, a top aide of Dawood Ibrahim and a drug lord, has arrived in India after being deported. He reportedly landed at a technical airport in Delhi on Tuesday, news agency ANI reported.
The Italian News Agency, citing the intelligence agency, reported that Dula was transferred on a private plane after the intelligence services deported him in cooperation with international agencies.
She added that Dula is currently being interrogated by intelligence officials and is expected to be handed over to Mumbai Police for further interrogation.
Read also: Daoud’s aide, drug dealer Salim Dula, detained in Turkey, may be extradited via the UAE
Dula’s deportation comes days after his arrest in the Turkish city of Istanbul. Dula was arrested in a joint operation by Turkey’s National Intelligence Organisation, MIT and local police units, based on Interpol’s Red Corner Notice (RCN), Hindustan Times reported earlier.
He is a prime accused in a major drug case being investigated by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch. The RCN was issued against Dola at the request of the Central Bureau of Investigation as he was wanted by the Mumbai Police.
A crime branch officer had earlier told Hindustan Times that since India and Turkey do not have an extradition treaty and Doula holds an Emirati passport, he may be extradited through the UAE.
Dula is allegedly the mastermind behind one of the largest synthetic drug manufacturing and supply syndicates in India. After being released on bail in 2018, he allegedly fled to the United Arab Emirates and obtained a passport there under a different name, according to investigators. He also began running the cartel from there before moving to Türkiye, where he was finally arrested.
Read also: Gutka to ditch party pills then real estate: Indian gangster Salim Dulla with Dawood link detained in Türkiye
Who is Salim Doula?
Saleem Dulla was born into a middle-class family in Godapdu and grew up in Byculla, HT had earlier reported quoting crime branch sources. He befriended Chhota Shakel and got into drug dealing while the latter was part of Dawood Ibrahim’s gang.
Slowly, Doula started supplying gutkha in Mumbai and Delhi, according to police investigations. Later, he moved from gutkha to supplying marijuana or “weed”. Dula was arrested three times in India in drug cases before he fled to the UAE in 2018.
(With inputs from Vinay Dalvi)
