The Enforcement Directorate (ED) carried out searches at 21 locations in Mumbai, Surat, Ankleshwar, and Rajkot linked to a narcotics syndicate run by Salim Ismail Dola, a Dawood Ibrahim gang associate recently brought back from Turkey. The operations, conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, targeted the syndicate’s network, including suppliers of precursor chemicals, synthetic drug manufacturers, hawala operators, and individuals holding properties acquired through crime proceeds.
The searches aimed to disrupt the syndicate’s operations and financial structure, resulting in the seizure of cash, gold bars, foreign currency, and bank balances totaling around Rs 1.33 crore, along with $2,200 in foreign currency. Recovered documents also pointed to significant investments in properties in India and Dubai from the drug syndicate’s earnings.
Initiated based on multiple FIRs against Dola and others for drug trafficking offenses, the investigation uncovered a sophisticated criminal network involved in chemical procurement, drug manufacturing, distribution, international trafficking, money laundering through hawala, and asset acquisition in associates’ names. The ED’s efforts focused on dismantling key links in the illicit supply chain and disrupting the syndicate’s financial activities.
