30 April,2026 07:30 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Salim Dola was brought to Delhi on Tuesday and later transferred to Mumbai after a transit remand was granted by a court in the national capital. Pic/PTI
A Mumbai court on Thursday remanded alleged drug trafficker Salim Dola, a close aide of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim, to the custody of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) until May 8 in connection with a 2023 drug seizure case, reported the PTI.
Dola, 59, was brought to Mumbai from Delhi following his deportation was produced before the Esplanade court in south Mumbai.
He was arrested in Turkiye following an Interpol Red Notice issued at India's request in March 2024. He had been reportedly wanted in multiple narcotics-related cases and had been absconding from Indian law enforcement agencies for several years, according to the PTI.
Dola was brought to Delhi on Tuesday and later transferred to Mumbai after a transit remand was granted by a court in the national capital.
On Wednesday, a team from the NCB brought Dola to Mumbai, where he was produced before Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate K S Zanwar at the Esplanade court on Thursday, as per the PTI.
The NCB sought 10 days of custody for detailed interrogation. The court, however, granted custody till 8 May.
The case under investigation relates to the seizure of 20 kilograms of mephedrone from south Mumbai in 2023.
Authorities allege that Dola was involved in manufacturing and distributing the synthetic drug and had expanded trafficking networks across multiple regions while operating from abroad.
Dola's lawyer, Zehra Charania said, "He has been arrested in a 2023 case in which 20 kg of MD was recovered. In that case, the other accused have already been granted bail. There was an NBW issued against him in 2024, and based on that NBW, he was picked up from Delhi Airport. He has been arrested based on a statement, and at present there is no more material; there is no admissible material on record," according to the IANS.
Originally from Dongri in south Mumbai, Dola is believed to have played a key role in organising supply chains for mephedrone, a banned synthetic stimulant, the news agency reported.
Investigators say he operated international drug distribution networks while evading law enforcement agencies.
The NCB is now probing his wider links and financial transactions connected to the trafficking operation.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had earlier issued an official statement noting that Dola's 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.
Dola was wanted in several cases, including the Rs 252 crore mephedrone seizure case, in which Mumbai Police busted a drug supply ring by raiding a manufacturing unit in Sangli district in state.
(with PTI and IANS inputs)
