NEW DELHI: Turkish authorities have arrested one of India’s most-wanted drug traffickers, Salim Ismail Dola, in Istanbul on Friday in a joint operation by the National Intelligence Organisation and Istanbul police, sources said.
His arrest is seen as a major blow to a multi-state synthetic drug network linked to India’s underworld fugitive Dawood Ibrahim. The development came on the heels of the recently concluded 12th round of India-Turkiye Foreign Office Consultations (FoC), which were held on 8 April in New Delhi.
However, it will not be easy for Indian authorities to bring the accused back as the two countries do not have an extradition agreement. Top sources said the accused may be deported to a neighbouring country where he has criminal cases registered.
Sources added that authorities are examining whether Dola and his network have any criminal records in Armenia or Azerbaijan so that he can be deported to either of those countries.
Also known as Salim Dola and Taher Salim Dola, he lived in Istanbul’s Beylikdüzü district under a false identity, using forged UAE documents. Dola, who was on an Interpol Red Corner Notice, had been evading arrest for two decades. India’s R&AW had made several attempts to dismantle his drug empire, which he operated across India with links to Dawood Ibrahim’s crime network. Dola was first arrested on July 29, 1998, at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, where around 40 kg of Mandrax, were recovered from two suitcases.
He was subsequently tried before a special court under the NDPS Act. On September 22, 2000, the court convicted him and his co-accused, sentencing him to 10 years of RI along with a monetary fine. Dola challenged the verdict before the Bombay HC in Criminal Appeal No. 829 of 2000. On February 11, 2002, the court overturned the trial court’s judgment and acquitted him and the other accused on technical grounds.