Fugitive drug lord Salim Dola, who was deported from Turkiye on Tuesday, had acquired a Bulgarian passport to escape from the country under the fake name of Hamza, officials aware of the matter said. The Indian agencies have taken photocopies of his Bulgarian passport.
Dola, who is currently being questioned in Mumbai by the Narcotics Control Bureau(NCB) officials, told his interrogators that after escaping India in 2018 while he was out on bail, he had reached the UAE. For the past two years he was trapped in Turkiye where he had arrived on a holiday with his family in 2024.
His family joined him in the UAE after escaping from India. In March 2024, while they had come to Istanbul on a holiday, a Red Corner Notice was issued against him. This made it impossible for him to leave the country with the Indian passport. His family members returned, while he had to stay in Turkiye. This is why he was changing locations in Turkiye and had acquired a passport.
Indian agencies had provided the Turkish administration with the man’s new location and identity. Dola has over the years dealt in everything from Mandarax to marijuana, fentanyl, and mephedrone. He would invest in whichever drug was more profitable.
A city court in Mumbai has sent him to NCB’s custody till May 8. Dola, a Mumbai resident, was on Tuesday brought to India from Turkiye under ‘Operation Global-Hunt’, in a development Union home minister Amit Shah termed as a “major breakthrough”.
