TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: An Italian tourist was arrested after party drugs valued internationally at over Rs 9 crore were seized from a rented house at Anjuna. The seizure of a whopping 30,750 square shaped pieces of LSD papers and 4.7 gms of LSD liquid is being touted as perhaps the biggest LSD haul in the country.
Inspector General of Police Sunil Garg informed the media that 54-year-old Vincenzo Rainone was arrested after a brief chase by ANC sleuths at Anjuna late Saturday night.
“During patrolling, the ANC staff intercepted the Italian national but he tried to escape. The staff caught him after a brief chase and found some LSD papers in his possession. The team then raided his house to find a massive quantity of LSD papers and liquid,” the officer,
accompanied by the ANC Superintendent of Police Kartik Kashyap, said.
The tourist, who possesses a business visa, has been residing in the house at Anjuna for the last six years. The landlords of the house were incidentally arrested in another drug offence amounting to Rs 55 lakh last year.
Garg said that Rainone’s arrest was possible after a tip-off about possible smuggling of LSD in the coastal belt, following which teams were deployed at highly suspected locations used for carrying out the trade.
The man, who flew to Goa from Thailand via a domestic airport, in the second week of January, has been denying his involvement stating the seized drugs in the house belonged to his brother, who died a long time ago.
“We are probing. There is a possibility he (Rainone) personally carried the banned substance or it was couriered,” the officer told the reporters.
Involvement of the house landlords is also not being ruled out considering their past record. Kashyap told Herald they are investigating all possibilities in the case, including whether the seized quantum was meant for delivering at party hubs.
