BHOPAL: Bhopal finds itself at the centre of a massive synthetic drug racket, this time with alleged links to the underworld. Investigators say the illegal mephedrone factory uncovered last week on the outskirts may have been controlled by Salim ‘Dola’ Ismail, a trusted aide of Iqbal Mirchi, the right-hand man of India’s most wanted criminal Dawood Ibrahim.Salim Dola, believed to be operating from Turkey, is suspected of running the cartel through his network across Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. His nephew, Mustafa Kubbawala, against whom Interpol has issued a Red Corner Notice, is said to be his key aide. The operation, code-named “Crystal Break”, was carried out by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) along with police teams from Maharashtra and Gujarat. On August 16, they raided a unit in Jagdishpur village near Bhopal, seizing 61 kg of liquid mephedrone worth `92 crore, more than 541 kg of chemicals, and a complete set of processing machines.Seven people have been arrested. Among them, Abdul Faisal Qureshi, a pharmacy diploma holder from Ashok Nagar, and his associate, Razzaq Khan from Vidisha, were running the factory. A cartel member caught in Basti, Uttar Pradesh, handled raw material supplies from Mumbai. Two suppliers and a transporter were nabbed in Mumbai, while a Surat-based hawala operator was caught arranging funds.Preliminary probe revealed that funds were being transferred from Surat and Mumbai to Bhopal via hawala channels for funding the cartel’s manufacturing facility. A close associate of the cartel was also apprehended in Surat.This was the sixth mephedrone factory busted by the DRI in the past year, and the second near Bhopal in 10 months. In October 2024, a unit in the Bagroda Industrial Area was found with 907 kg of mephedrone worth Rs 1,814 crore.
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