PANJIM: As many as 23 people including three foreign nationals, were arrested by the Crime Branch during a late-night raid on ‘rave’ party on Saturday at Vagator. Drugs worth Rs nine lakh were also seized.
Two women from Russia and one from Czech Republic were amongst those arrested during the raid. The rave party was being organized at Firangipani Villas.
The Director General of Police (DGP) Mukesh Kumar Meena in a tweet said, “Zero tolerance to Drugs and Ensuring Public Safety, Goa police Crime Branch busted a late-night party in Anjuna. 23 persons including 3 foreigners were arrested and narcotic drugs worth over Rs 9 lac were seized”.
The Panjim JMFC court remanded actor Kapil Jhaveri (40) resident of Mumbai, Eva Ova (29) from Czech Republic, Elena Emelianova (26) from Russia and Ana Nucamendi (28) from Mexico to 5 days police custody. All four were arrested for organising the rave party and were found with drugs. The other 19 were released on bail.
In a statement issued, the Crime Branch has said that on the intervening night of August 15-16, three teams raided the villas and detained more than 20 people.
“In the intervening night of August 15-16, reliable information was received that a rave party was being organized at Firangipani Villas at Vagator,” the statement said.
The team seized narcotics including cocaine, MDMA, charas and ecstasy tablets worth over Rs 9 lakh.
“FIRs are registered for endangering public safety and for narcotics drugs. Further proceedings are going on,” Crime Branch said.
Out of the 23 arrested, 4 people were arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act for allegedly possessing banned substances during the police raid, officials said.
Whereas, the 19 others present at the party were arrested for violating the social distancing norms.The official informed that the party was organized by a foreigner.
Complaints about rave parties have been on the rise during the ongoing COVID pandemic in North Goa. Earlier this month, a video went viral of an underground party organized by some youth. The party came to light after a brawl spilled onto the street involving local goons, promoting police to book the organizers.
The DGP had recently warned to crackdown on late night parties with necessary action against the offenders.
