Notorious international drug smuggler Salim Dhaula, a close aide of gangster Dawood Ibrahim, was on Tuesday brought to India from Turkey under ‘Operation Global-Hunt’, in an operation which Union Development Home Minister Amit Shah described as a “major breakthrough”.
Dula, 58, was arrested by the Turkish intelligence agency and Beylikduzu police in Istanbul on April 25 after inputs from Indian agencies and based on the Red Corner Notice (RCN) issued by Interpol against him.
The Home Ministry said in a statement: “The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), in close coordination with international and Indian intelligence agencies, secured the return of wanted drug lord Mohammad Salim Dula from Turkey, under Operation Global-Hunt. He was detained on his arrival at IGI Airport, New Delhi, early this morning by the NCB.”
Dula, who fled to the UAE from India nearly eight years ago, has remained trapped in Turkey for the past two years after coming to Istanbul on vacation in early 2024, officials familiar with the matter said.
An official who requested anonymity said: “While he was vacationing in Turkey, the Red Corner Notice (Interpol) was issued in 2024. His family including his son managed to leave the country and return to the UAE but he was trapped. He was living alone in different places in Turkey to avoid arrest.” “After his son was deported from the UAE last year, he stopped communicating with his aides and family members to avoid arrest.”
Over the years, Doula has created a major transnational drug trafficking ring that spans a number of countries in West Asia, Africa and Europe, the Ministry of Home Affairs statement said. “His criminal antecedents spanning two decades include direct involvement in cases involving multiple high-value seizures of heroin, charas, mephedrone, mandrax and methamphetamine in Maharashtra and Gujarat,” it added.
Doula, who is based in Dongri in Mumbai, has consistently acted as a wholesale supplier to downstream distribution networks in India, MHA said. “This effort embodies the close cooperation and coordinated work between the authorities in Türkiye, Interpol and Indian agencies,” he added.
In a post on X, Home Minister Shah stressed zero tolerance for the drug gang. “Under the Modi government’s mission to ruthlessly crush drug cartels, our anti-drug agencies have extended their tentacles across borders through a powerful network of global agencies. Now, no matter where they hide, there is no safe place for drug cartel leaders,” he said.
Mumbai Police officers said Dula, who was a close friend of late underworld don Iqbal Mirchi and a close associate of fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim, was handling the drug “dealing” of the D gang, and his family members were central figures in drug trafficking and peddling in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana. Dula was arrested by DRI, Mumbai Police and NCB before he jumped bail and fled the country sometime in 2018, they added.
Upon his arrival at Delhi airport on Tuesday morning, the NCB arrested Doula. He was briefly interrogated at the office’s headquarters in RK Puram in south Delhi, the officials said, adding that a team from the NCB’s Mumbai zone had arrived in Delhi to take Dula into remand.
Deputy Director General (Operations) Neeraj Kumar Gupta said: “Salim Ismail Daula is a resident of Mumbai. He is wanted in cases with the NCB, Mumbai and Gujarat Police… The NCB has received a red corner notice issued in 2024 through Interpol. Processes to present these fugitives and gang leaders for trial in India are currently underway.”
“The Delhi court sent him to remand for two days in Mumbai where he will be produced again before a court of competent jurisdiction,” he added.
(With inputs from Abhishek Sharan in Mumbai)
