AUGUSTO RODRIGUES
PANJIM: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has clearly understood the need to increase surveillance and intensify investigation into the increased menace of drugs in Goa
The drug trade is now a well-established industry with major operatives from across the border going to any lengths to fuel this business; including marrying locals in Goa, applying for OCI cards to live and doing their shady business here. “Most of these foreigners, male and female marry locals and then apply for OCI or some have children born here. This makes it easier for them to stay and operate,” confessed an intelligence officer.
“On the surface, intelligence sources indicate that the drug trade in Goa is rotational where the first person in contact with a tourist is the peddler. The reality, according to them, lies in the interiors where adulteration takes place in home-based laboratories.
The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has upgraded its office in Goa from sub-zonal to zonal, and the Anti-narcotic Cell (ANC) of Goa Police is acquiring test kits to detect drug consumption.
“With the number of parties taking place, we have requisitioned test kits to immediately ascertain consumption of drugs and are now working with courier agencies. Drugs are now being imported in raw form from abroad,” disclosed Tikam Singh Verma, Superintendent of ANC.
“I came to know from my contacts in Delhi Police that part of the quantity of cocaine seized in New Delhi was bound for Goa. Since Goa is a party spot and a coastal State, by default it is a good destination,” admitted Verma.
Sources in the Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing (H NEW) and Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) both state Goa has changed from a chilled place to consume drugs to a destination where contraband is adulterated and distributed for sale.
Now, drugs are sent packed to India as consumables or even as dinner sets that are then distilled in laboratories and sold in the market,” detailed an officer.
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on May 2, 2023, busted a laboratory in Anjuna and A Kundu, a native of West Bengal was arrested. NCB Zonal Director Amit Ghawate claimed that apart from LSD blots, MDMA powder, Hashish powder, Hydroponic weed and Psilocybin mushroom capsules, crude and sophisticated lab equipment were found.
According to Verma, “During the interrogation of an individual caught recently with LSD, it became obvious that courier services are used to procure the drugs from abroad and then made into paper blots and sold. We had a meeting with courier services on Wednesday,” he added.
“Foreigners are behind the supply of drugs like cocaine, LSD and other chemicals to India and they are primarily shipped to Goa where the adulteration process starts and the same are pushed to customers by local peddlers,” disclosed a source on condition of anonymity.
The NCB has booked 21 cases in two years and arrested 47 individuals, including 34 Indians. “Two districts of Maharashtra and Karnataka have been added to the Goa Zone,” disclosed Surjeet Singh, Superintendent of NCB in Goa.
Drugs were first presumed to have been primarily brought into the country by Italians, Israelis and Russians, many staying in Goa through the year.
Finding senior citizen foreigners openly smoking drugs in selected spots in North Goa is not something new because the nexus “From the three arrests made by my team during my tenure, one was a Goan who was caught twice before and two were foreigners,” confirms Verma.
“From the arrests made in Hyderabad and subsequent investigations, evidence that drugs sourced to Hyderabad originates from Goa and the hand of Goans is clear,” shared an officer from the Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing (H NEW) on condition of anonymity. He also mentioned, “Checking drugs in Goa is not our preview, but stopping drugs from entering Hyderabad is. When we come to your place, it is to save our society from the scourge of drugs”.
“Adulteration of drugs is one problem. This does not happen abroad where drugs are tested before being sold,” claimed Dr Fentan D’Souza from Anjuna, who has dealt first-hand with many cases related to death with drugs.
“There are four well-known restaurants in Anjuna, discreetly run by foreigners where drugs are easily available,” says a lady trying to wean her addicted son away from drugs.
American national Giovanni Robert Caso (83), known by his nickname Mescalin Bob, was arrested by the Anti Narcotic Cell (ANC), on September 15, 2022, for having possessed LSD liquid and MDMA at St Michael Wado in Anjuna.
Mescalin Bob was allegedly apprehended with 12 g of liquid LSD and 45 grams of MDMA all valued, at that time, at Rs 12 lakh. After his release on bail, the boy at the house he was staying in was alleged to have committed suicide.
“The police claim that he committed suicide, but it is hard to believe their version because he was a sober kid,” argued an Anjuncar on the condition of anonymity.