With the tourist season in Goa almost at its peak, the Police are having a tough time in controlling various tourism-related unlawful activities, particularly illicit drug trade, which has earned the state the dubious distinction of being the ‘drug haven’ of the country. Police authorities claim that they have been putting in their best efforts to contain the drug menace by strengthening the Anti-Narcotics Cell (ANC). The ANC, which had been bogged down due to increasing work overload and insufficient police personnel, especially at the officer level, has been revamped with additional manpower and the introduction of sophisticated gadgets. The ANC has also strengthened its network of informants and is all set to take on the illicit drug trade head-on, senior police officers say.
The magnitude of the illicit drug trade in the State can be gauged by the seizure of large consignments of drugs, worth several crores of Rupees, in the last about a year by the ANC of the Goa Police as well as by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), which had raided several places in Goa during the last tourist season. In fact, in the last two months or so, the Goa Police alone has seized considerably large amounts of narcotics and other illicit drugs from various parts of the State. A number of persons have also been arrested in connection with the drug trafficking.
The spurt in narcotics trafficking in the State has compelled the ANC to resort to a sustained crackdown on the illicit drug trade. Police authorities say that the ongoing crackdown will continue vigorously and the ‘rave’ parties, which are the main course of the drug menace are to be stopped completely. Police officials at all the police stations have been directed to raid ‘rave’ parties organized in the State during the tourist season, and to take stringent action against foreign nationals overstaying without valid documents. According to police authorities, due to strict surveillance and constant raids on the beachfronts, there has been a considerable decline in drug trafficking in the State, of late.
Illicit drug trade is the worst menace Goa has been facing since Liberation. Coastal The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is of the opinion that Goa has emerged as a hot-spot for drug trafficking in India. The Mumbai regional unit of the NCB, which has been constantly keeping a close watch on the drug trail into Goa from various countries – Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Mayanmar, et al – had succeeded in intercepting huge quantities of contraband drugs here, in the recent years. The NCB has also pointed out that large quantities of illicit drugs were being regularly smuggled from Goa to various other States in the country and several countries abroad.
According to the NCB, besides being a consumer, Goa has become a major transit point for smuggling of narcotics and other illicit drugs to several countries abroad, particularly in Europe and America. Drug dealers find Goa the most convenient place in the country in terms of trafficking contraband drugs due to number of, and simplicity of routes to transit drug consignments, and the easy access to various foreign countries. Foreign nationals, who regularly visit Goa as tourists during the October-May tourist season, smuggle narcotics and designer drugs on their return to their respective countries. The illicit drugs are also dispatched to foreign countries through different other means, including through courier and even through official Postal Services.
The NCB while terming Goa as the ‘drug haven’ in the country, has compiled a list of some of the most notorious drug dealers operating in the State for nearly a decade. It has specifically identified a number of foreign nationals from Nigeria, Russia and Israel, who have been unlawfully staying in India and were involved in various criminal activities, including drug trafficking. Goa being a popular inter-national tourist destination in India, has made the State a haven for the drug mafia.
Towards this end it may be recalled, that on October 3I, 2013, a Nigerian national Obodo Uzoma Simeon, was brutally killed and three other Nigerians were injured in a clash between two gangs. The murder of Simeon and the ensuing rioting by Nigerians was the crescendo of fights between drug peddlers from the African country and an Anjuna-Chapora-based gang of Goan drug dealers, over control of ‘territories’. The Africans are controlling the cocaine trade in Goa. According to the police the attack was the fallout of a drug bust wherein an African national was nabbed a few days earlier in Panjim by the NCB officials with cocaine worth over Rs one crore.
This brutal side of narcotics is, however, is nothing to say regarding the number of cases of tourists, particularly foreigners, dying on the hint of a drug overdose, which are reported at various police stations in the State, every year.
Goa Police, on the instructions of the Union Home Ministry, has initiated a probe in coastal areas to identify certain tourists that are residing in the State in spite of expiry of their Visas, and are unlawfully involved in running night clubs, flea markets and other nefarious activities, including drug peddling, prostitution and human trafficking.
Recently, at a high-level meeting, chaired by Deputy Director of the NCB, Vijay Kumar, a decision was taken for formation of an anti-narcotics task force in Goa, comprising officials from major law enforcement agencies in the country, in order to curb the illicit drug trade, which is causing a serious security risk not only to the State, but to the entire country. The meeting was attended by officials from the NCB, the Enforcement Directorate, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, the Customs and Central Excise and the Goa Police. It was also decided at the meeting that the NCB would hold regular training programmes for the personnel of various Police Stations, especially those located along the coastal belt, which is considered as the hotbed for illicit drug trade.
(The writer is a freelance journalist)
