Gujarat ATS has arrested international drug trafficker Salim Ismail Dola in connection with a mephedrone haul worth Rs 438.64 crore, officials said Tuesday. Dola, deported from Turkiye earlier this year, was booked after the ATS raided a drug manufacturing unit near Sindhrot village in Vadodara district on December 1, 2022 and seized 87.728 kg of mephedrone (MD). Officials said Dola allegedly supplied chemicals used to manufacture the drug and later bought and sold the finished product. The ATS claimed the syndicate concealed narcotics inside containers carrying legally exported goods, then shipped them abroad. Dummy companies were allegedly set up in destination countries to help carry out the operations. Investigators said that Dola’s involvement surfaced during the probe into the Sindhrot case. The ATS said his name emerged as one of the people involved, and a search followed after it was discovered he was operating from abroad. In April this year, the Narcotics Control Bureau brought Dola back from Turkiye, where he had been arrested on the basis of an Interpol Red Notice issued at India’s request in March 2024. The ATS took Dola into custody on October 31, Assistant Commissioner of Police, ATS, SL Chaudhary said. The ATS is now questioning him to establish the source of the chemicals, financial transactions, distribution channels and the involvement of other members of the network. The investigation earlier indicated that mephedrone produced at the Vadodara factory was transported to Mumbai and delivered to Dola’s associates. Dola is also linked to other drug cases. The ATS said he has been named in around a dozen narcotics-related cases, with the Enforcement Directorate also probing his alleged drug network, financial transactions, properties and money laundering. The ATS cited his past arrests, including an incident in 1998 at Mumbai International Airport with around 40 kg of mandrax and an arrest in 2013 with around 79 kg of charas. The ATS also said he was linked to a fentanyl case involving drugs worth nearly Rs 1,000 crore. He is facing drug trafficking charges in India and is accused of operating a transnational narcotics network. Chaudhary said the ATS does not yet have details on who Dola supplied drugs to, and more information is expected during interrogation.