India, Oct. 24 -- Salim Mohammed Sohail Shaikh, an alleged key player in the drug trafficking network operated by the Dawood Ibrahim gang, has been arrested by the crime branch and remanded in police custody till October 30, officers aware of the matter told Hindustan Times.

Shaikh, an alleged associate of fugitive drug lord Salim Dola, was taken into custody by the Mumbai police crime branch shortly after his deportation from Dubai, the officers said.

"Shaikh was a key link between the Dawood Ibrahim gang and other drug trafficking networks in India. He managed the operations of a major Mephedrone (MD) manufacturing network and played a key role in coordinating and supplying synthetic drugs across the country and abroad," an officer to...