Hyderabad cops go where Goa failed: Come and get Goa’s alleged drug lords

Team Herald 

ANJUNA:  They came, they saw, they searched, and they arrested. In a clinically professional strike the elite Hyderabad narco police, camping in Goa for three days swooped down and made the first of the many impending arrest- alleged drug kingpin John Stephen D’Souza (Steve) He is believed to be the person who runs the well-known Hilltop night club in Vagator and is one of the those named in an ongoing NDPS case as one of the big interstate suppliers operating for eight years in Goa.

Goa’s DGP Jaspal Singh had interestingly told Herald less than 24 hours earlier, “They (Hyderabad police) are here for a routine visit. Goa Police are serious about cracking on drugs. But Goa is only a drug destination, drugs are not supplied from here.”

Steve’s name came up during the interrogation of interstate Goa-based drug Peddler Pritesh Narayan Borkar by H- NEW ( Hyderabad Narcotics Enforcement Wing) and the Osmania University Police Station where he was picked up from Hyderabad with  Ecstasy Pills, LSD Blots and MDMA at Kakatiya Nagar, Habsiguda under Osmania University PS limits, Hyderabad.

Steve was, according to the H-New investigation report named as one of the persons from whom Borkar and his accomplice Manzoor Ahmed picked up bulk drugs. (See box on the exact alleged roles of the Goa dealers)

Police insiders revealed that the Hyderabad Police team with the assistance of the Anjuna Police team nabbed Steve from his home, in the very early morning of Wednesday after which he was bought to the Anjuna Police Station.

He then complained of uneasiness, post which he was taken to the North Goa District Hospital.

This stalled his move to immediately move out of Goa as the court adjourned the hearing on the application for his transit remand by the Hyderabad Police for Thursday.

Later in the afternoon, Steve was taken to North District Hospital, Mapusa for a medical examination however he complained of uneasiness. Steve is presently admitted to the District Hospital in Mapusa.

The police have also requested the aid of the Goa police in apprehending

Vikas Naik @ Vicky, Ramesh Chowhan, Edwin Nunis, and Sanja Gowekar who according to the H-NEW sleuths, sold the drugs to Pritesh Borkar and Manzoor Ahmed from Goa. Steve’s and Thukaram Salgovkar’s  names were also on that list and they have been arrested.