Salim Dola
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has taken alleged international drug trafficker Salim Ismail Dola into custody after securing his extradition through Interpol, nearly four years after his name surfaced in the seizure of 87.7kg of mephedrone worth Rs 438.6 crore from a factory in Vadodara district, officers said on Tuesday. In April this year, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) brought Dola back from Turkiye, where he was arrested on the basis of an Interpol Red Notice issued at India’s request in March 2024. Dola was taken into Gujarat ATS custody on Oct 31. He was wanted in the Dec 1, 2022, case in which ATS had seized 87.7kg of mephedrone from an illegal manufacturing unit in Sindhrot village and arrested 10 people. 1998: Arrested at Mumbai airport with around 40kg of mandrax. 2022: Booked in an NDPS and forgery case at Ghatkopar police station. 2023: Named in cases by NCB Mumbai and Mumbai police involving mephedrone and other narcotics
The investigation allegedly revealed that Dola was in contact with the arrested accused Soumil Pathak, whom he had met in jail. Investigators also found that the mephedrone manufactured at the factory was supplied to Aiman Musa Sheikh alias Ayan Khan, an alleged associate of Dola in Mumbai.