Saleem Dulla, the alleged mastermind of one of India’s largest synthetic drug manufacturing and supply syndicates, started selling gutkha, and is linked to Dawood Ibrahim.
Officers from the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, which is investigating a major drug case with Dhaula as the prime accused, told HT that the drug lord has been arrested in Istanbul, Turkey. Dula was arrested in a joint operation carried out by the Turkish National Intelligence Service, MIT, and local police units, based on an Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN). The RCN was issued at the request of India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the gangster was wanted by the Mumbai Police.
Who is Salim Doula?
Salim Daula was born into a middle-class family in the Godapdeo neighborhood of Byculla in Mumbai, reportedly in 1966. He fell into the notorious Mumbai underworld at a young age and befriended Chhota Shakeel, who was then part of the Mumbai underworld. Daoud Ibrahim gang. Police investigations showed that Dhola slowly started supplying gutkha in Mumbai and Delhi.
From gutka, Dhola turned to marijuana or “weed”. He was arrested in 2012 before The Narcotics Control Board (NCB) found 80 kilograms of marijuana in his possession. He remained in prison for five years before the court acquitted him of the case.
But the real twist came when Salim Daula broke out of prison and met Kailash Rajput, an escaped drug supplier, police officials say.
Dula befriended Rajput, who helped him set up a manufacturing unit for ‘Boton’, a synthetic drug made with fentanyl, a dangerous opioid, and sold in tablet or pill form.
The Mumbai Police’s anti-narcotics cell had arrested Dhola in 2018 from Santa Cruz with 100 kg of fentanyl. He was out of prison again within just four months after the court released him on bail, as the forensic report stated that the samples tested in the case came back negative for fentanyl.
While out on bail, Salim Dula fled to United Arab Emirates.
He set up a real estate business for his son Tahir, using money coming from the drug trade in India. He later obtained an Emirati passport under a different name and fled to Türkiye, where he was eventually arrested.
A crime branch officer told HT that the authorities will try to extradite the fugitive drug lord through the UAE. A source said: “Since India does not have an extradition treaty with Türkiye and Doula holds an Emirati passport, we will try to extradite him through the UAE.”
