Salim Dola, a key drug kingpin and close aide of gangster Dawood Ibrahim, has been deported to India from Turkey and handed over to Indian agencies.
The 59-year-old was detained by Turkish Intelligence Agency and Beylikduzu police on Saturday following inputs from India's agencies.
Upon arriving at the airport's technical area, agencies took Dola for interrogation. The CBI facilitated his extradition from Turkey.
Interpol had issued a Red Corner Notice against Dola on the CBI's request, as the Mumbai Police and the NCB wanted him in various cases.
Dola is a key operative who runs Dawood's drug network and has recently entered mephedrone manufacturing at clandestine laboratories across different states.
He has been active since the 1980s and has been linked to many drug busts, and has been arrested by Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Mumbai Police, and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) before he jumped bail and fled the country sometime in 2018.
The Mumbai police found his involvement in a 2024 case related to the seizure of around 126 kg of mephedrone in Mumbai and traced the supply chain from Maharashtra to Turkey and Dubai.
People arrested in this case have named him as the person behind the drug manufacturing and supply chain.
