The North Goa Principal District and Sessions Court on Monday ordered the framing of charges against Israeli national David Driham alias Dudu in a narcot ics seizure case, reviving scrutiny around a figure long linked to Goa’s drug underworld. The case has been post ed to April 1, 2026, for formal explanation of charges to the accused. Driham was charge sheeted in December 2025 following an investigation led by PSI Francisco Xavier during his tenure with the Narcotics Control Bureau, Panjim. The Narcotics Control Bureau had registered the case after alleged ly seizing 11.203 grams of cocaine from Driham at Anjuna on June 4, 2025.
He has been booked under Sections 8(c) read with 21 and 22(b) read with 29 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psycho tropic Substances Act. Driham was absent during Monday’s hearing and was represented by his counsel, Adv P Betkekar, who moved an exemption application. The court allowed the plea. Special Public Prosecutor S Taleigaonker appeared for the com plainant. The latest prosecution comes against the backdrop of Driham’s controversial past. He had figured prominently in the infamous 2010 drugs scandal that led to the suspen sion of seven Goa policemen, including a Deputy Superin tendent of Police, over allegations that drugs were planted on him. The probe was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which arrested the seven officers in 2012. In 2023, however, the court discharged Driham in that 2010 case, citing insufficient evidence to frame charges against him.
