Has Haji Salim Replaced Dawood Ibrahim As The New Drug Lord In Pakistan?

The Indian agencies are keeping a close tab on one Haji Salim alias Haji Ali after his name had cropped in a drug investigation.

Investigations have shown that Salim has been the main supplier of drugs to India since the year 20156. A resident of Afghanistan, Salim is settled in Pakistan and runs his empire from there. All the major drug busts in India since the year 2016 have his links, a an official tells OneIndia.

Earlier, Salim was handling the drug trade along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, but over the years he has spread his tentacles to other countries, the official cited above said. What the agencies are trying to ascertain is whether Salim has replaced Dawood Ibrahim as the main drug supplier to India or is working under the notorious don, who is wanted in scores of cases in India.

If one notices the massive drug busts that have happened in India, it has all been through the sea route. Salim is said to have built his network and has extensively used the sea route to push drugs into India.

It was around four years back that the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) was given information about Salim by the National Security Council Secretariat.

While his links with Dawood is unclear, his connection with the ISI is a well known fact. The Indian agencies had launched 'Operation Samudragupta' to stop drug smuggling from Pakistan and Afghanistan into India. Thanks to multiple operations launched by the Indian agencies, several drug consignments have been busted. The drug lords usually use the Gujarat coast to get drugs into the country. From here it makes its way to Mumbai following which it is distributed across the country.