Drug dealers carry policemen on their motorcycles: Agnelo
Senior police officers support prostitution rackets, says Calangute MLA
The Calangute MLA Agnelo Fernandes, belongs to a select group of Congress MLAs who are rulers in opposition. In a pre-Assembly session interview Fernandes speaks to Herald about his constituency which he says is swamped by dance bars, prostitutes and drug dealers. The second interview of this series with Mauvin Godinho, the outspoken spokesperson of the Congress legislature Party, will appear in the Sunday edition
Herald: The AICC general Secretary in charge of Goa said that the drug problem is not unique to Goa and that he had not received any report from the state about the rampant use of drugs.
Agnelo: I have no comment on that remark. The home minister says action is being taken against drug dealers and they have caught many. I’m sure he is doing his best. But let me also tell you that policemen and drug dealers are seen riding together on the same motorcycle. I have mentioned this to the DGP on several occasions. These dealers are well known. Calangute has also become a den for prostitution with several bars and restaurants serving as fronts for prostitution rackets.
Herald: But you are the MLA of that area and surely can prevent this?
Agnelo: I cannot. These activities have to be blessed by senior people in the police force. I have witnessed with my own eyes a police vehicle with a light on top stop near a girl standing in front of one of the new dance bars, pick her up and go away. I noted the registration number and later discovered it was a police vehicle. So, to answer your question, no I do not have any control. There have been times when I have asked the police to take action and raid restaurants which are just fronts for prostitution rackets and have seen constables come and negotiate with the owners and move away
Herald: Can you elaborate?
Agnelo: Last week, I was in front of a new bar and restaurant on the Calangute Candolim route, on the way to the Taj hotels, which is nothing but a prostitution den. I asked the Calangute PI to raid the place. A little later some constables came and I saw them speaking to the owners and their employees. The police then moved away. A little later the PI told me that there were no girls inside the restaurant and everything was ok. I was shocked, since I was standing just outside the place and seeing what was going on. The constable later called me and confided that the PI had instructed him to report that he found nothing unusual in the restaurant. This is the state of affairs in my constituency. That’s why I have stopped recommending police officers to my constituency because after they join, they do their own thing.
Herald: Isn’t that the direct failure of the state machinery of which you are a part of?
Agnelo: I do not wish to play politics here. The future of the young generation is at stake. I have seen so many young people get completely wasted as they get hooked on drugs. The rampant rise in prostitution is alarming. People from outside the state come and apply for bar and restaurant licences and then turn them into dance bars and pick up points for prostitutes. This cannot happen without police protection. And these bars are owned and managed by people from outside the state and have different gangs to support them. This criminalization is going unchecked.
Herald: if that is the case, you cannot hold anyone else accountable but your own government.
Agnelo: I have raised this issue in the Assembly again and again and will raise it again. I’m not going against the party but speaking as a people’s representative. Anybody turning a blind eye to the drug and prostitution menace must be involved in it.
