Salim Dola's arrest forces Haji Salim cartel to go low-key, shift routes

New Delhi: The arrest and subsequent extradition of Salim Dola is among the biggest blows dealt by Indian agencies to the Dawood Ibrahim-Haji Salim narcotics cartel.

The Narendra Modi government at the Centre has embarked on a mission to make India drug-free, and even as new challenges crop up, the agencies have mostly got the better of these cartels.

Dola’s arrest led to a massive disruption in the global supply chain. While this affected the Dawood Syndicate, it also dealt a blow to Haji Salim, who is in charge of operations relating to South India.

An official said that following Dole’s arrest, Haji Salim has been re-strategising his South India operations. “He and his men are no longer operating with the audacity that they used to. They are aware that the agencies are on their trail and hence they have deliberately kept the operations low-key,” the official said.

An Intelligence Bureau official said that the biggest shift that one is witnessing is the change in the landing points for the narcotics.

Even the quantities have declined significantly, with narcotics now being brought in smaller consignments.

“At their peak, the Haji Salim-led networks would smuggle in consignments which would be to the tune of 2,000 to 5,000 kg. Now the quantities have deliberately been reduced to avoid scrutiny,” the official said.

Another official said that the Haji Salim network is relying on the older styles of smuggling that can help evade the security agencies. They have chosen coastal areas, which feature complex terrain, to smuggle drugs.

For instance, there is a lot of reliance on the coastal areas in Vedaranyam and Nagapattinam owing to the complex terrain.

Here, the Haji Salim gang has managed to use the small boats to smuggle the contraband. These boats can mix with the local maritime traffic and are able to avoid detection to a large extent, the official said.

However, the consignments are of smaller quantity here, the official also added.

Rameswaram, the Palk Strait and the Thoothukudi outer coast in Tamil Nadu are also preferred routes for this network. While the quantities being smuggled remain low, these coastal areas are favoured as the cartels are able to exploit local fishing networks.

In Kerala, there have been major interceptions by the agencies. For instance, the most preferred point for these cartels was the Vizhinjam outer sea coastline, which is located near Thiruvananthapuram.

However, after the agencies managed to carry out several successful intercepts involving large quantities of drugs, operations here have gone down considerably for the time being.

Instead, the Haji Salim network now uses the Kochi rural waters, coastal Kasargod and Malappuram. Coastal Kasargod and Malappuram in northern Kerala have lower surveillance, and this is being taken advantage of. However, the narcotics that are smuggled through these routes are only meant for consumption in Kerala, Goa and Karnataka.

Officials say that the multiple crackdowns have led to a slowing down by the Haji Salim network. Just two years back, he was a major player who handled South India, Mauritius, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

While multiple interceptions are one of the reasons, the arrest of Salim Dola also changed a lot for the syndicates. Further, the situation in Iran too has not helped Haji Salim. His shipments would originate from Iran, pass through Afghanistan and Malaysia before landing in Sri Lanka. The drugs from Sri Lanka then would make their way into the markets in India, Maldives, and Mauritius.

The agencies are aware that these cartels may be down, but not out. They would do everything to save their trade, from finding newer routes to coastal areas in south India that have low surveillance, an official said.

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