Goa Police is patting itself on the back for having arrested two engineering students in possession of narcotics substances on Friday in one of the boys’ hostels at the Goa College of Engineering at Farmagudi. The Anti-Narcotics Cell Superintendent was quoted as saying that the raid will ‘send a strong message that Goa Police will not tolerate any such nefarious activity in Goa, more particularly in educational institutions’. One raid on a party in one hostel where out of around 20 students, two were found with ‘contraband substance’, to use the police term, is not going to send any message to the drug mafia in Goa that the police mean business. The police force in Goa has failed to tackle the issue of availability of narcotics in college campuses with any seriousness. Arresting students and not the drug dealers is an example of a failure of the police intelligence network and their detecting abilities.
There can be no argument that a drug mafia exists in the State. There are regular arrests of peddlers in the coastal belt and not too long ago the nexus between the drug mafia, police and politicians had made national news and some policemen had even been suspended and arrested. Two students, possibly users, arrested for possession of ganja cannot possibly stop or even temporarily slow down the illegal drug business in the State. To put an end to the drug business one would need a more concerted effort from the law enforcers, where the target would be the dealers rather than the users. As the Aam Aadmi Party pointed out almost immediately, the police would have made a real headway in damaging the drug business had they posed as students and trapped the dealers. That is indeed how the police should have acted in this case. Reactions, coming in soon after the drug raid, acknowledged that students are getting pulled into the narcotics habit, that they are the victims and not the culprits and that the police should focus on keeping Goa free of narcotics by dealing with the dealers.
The ANC Police Superintendent said they had information of the party, verified it before conducting the raid and that their men had been on the job for many days. After that much effort all that the ANC and Crime Branch – it was a joint operation – could achieve was nab two students. The police also claim that they suspect ‘a kiosk-like structure around the campus’ to be supplying drugs. If this kiosk was indeed supplying drugs, it will have stopped doing so after the raid, at least temporarily. The ANC-CB target should have been the kiosk, for that would have cut off the drug supply route, at least to that college, and would have sent a message to the drug dealers that the police mean business. After raiding a party, announcing that a kiosk is suspected to be supplying drugs is not an example of efficient policing, and shows a lack of seriousness in the matter. It is akin to warning the kiosk owners that they are going to be the next target, giving them ample time to destroy or hide any incriminating evidence.
Availability of narcotics in colleges and among youth has to be taken seriously. Some months ago there had been the case of two youth having died after a suspected drug overdose at a party. While youth are end users and also responsible for their actions, the police must investigate the channels through which the drugs travel to reach the youth. Stopping those channels will dry up the supply and so stop youth from falling prey to narcotics. The seriousness of this issue cannot be underlined and the Goa Police taking undue credit for confiscating a small amount of ganja is uncalled for.
