PANJIM: When Sunday Onye Lucky was arrested a couple of days ago on charges of peddling a huge quantum of party drugs from his reportedly shady “restaurant” in the forests of Saligao, the torchlight on the menace of drug dealers, a big number of them from African nations, including overwhelmingly from Nigeria was back.
Shockingly, for over ten years, many of the same set of Africans, who blocked the main National Highway at Porvorim, lowered the corpse of their murdered countryman, Obodo Uzoma Simeon killed on October 31, 2013, in a drug-related rivalry and rioted and damaged property in a revenge orgy of hate and violence.
Of the 51 Nigerians and 1 Ghana national who were booked, a vast majority of them have continued to remain in the system, riding mainly on cases against them to ensure their presence in the absence of passports or visas for almost all of them
The Washington Post in a report shared and published in the Guardian of UK in 2014 wrote, “Thirty-four of the 52 Nigerians arrested in the highway protest lacked valid papers, according to a state immigration official. Police (in 2014) said that 189 Nigerians have been arrested in Goa since 2010, on charges including lack of travel documents and involvement in drug trafficking. About 40% of the foreigners arrested for drug trafficking in the state since 2009 are Nigerians.
The almost synonymous linkage of drugs and violence and this set of Nigerians involved in the 2013 rioting cases are very strong and Sunday Onye Lucky’s arrest in a serious drug-related case only underlines that sharply.
Many of those involved in the 2013 incident were thereafter allegedly involved in the drug trade, rape, etc.
Herald’s inquiry has revealed that while two of the 51 have died, over a dozen are lodged in Colvale Central Jail for other offences. Three others were sent to the detention center, the need of which arose after the violence and accordingly commissioned in 2019.
The case, charge-sheeted in 2016 and is in its 101st month, is on trial. After their arrest, which was nearly a struggle for the Goa police against the bulky-tall Nigerians, the investigating team had conducted a thorough search to locate their local addresses. While some were found with valid visas, several did not possess the mandatory document for staying in India.
“Their local addresses were noted. They were arrested and bailed out later. Some got involved in other offences and were sent to custody again. The attempted murder case is on trial and summons have been issued to them on their local addresses but some turn up, others don’t,” an officer, who was one of the main investigating the case, told Herald.
Indulging in ‘unwanted things’, these Nigerians get an excuse to prolong their stay in Goa. While the rest have managed their stay in Goa. Two Nigerians – Paul Ozoemne (then an inmate of Aguada Jail) and Eze Miller (inmate of Colvale Jail) – died while the case was on trial. Paul succumbed in December 2016, Eze – convicted in another case – died in January 2019 and their bodies are still preserved in the Goa Medical College and Hospital morgue. Sources said that while the Goa Police and Prisons
Department gave their no objection for disposal of the bodies, the local administration has kept the matter pending considering it involves nationals of another country.
On the other hand, several others have got embroiled in illegal activities, the latest example being the arrest of Onye in the Rs 66.95 lakh drug seizure.
Kenneth Upwegdha, who was among the rioters in the attack on policemen, was thereafter arrested for allegedly kidnapping and raping a 31-year-old woman in Goa. He was caught from Panvel railway station. The then 41-year-old was earlier booked for overstaying as a case was registered at Calangute police station.
In another case, one of these accused was involved in drug trafficking in Hyderabad and was said to be a kingpin of the network that operated in several states.
