TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The arrest of a Nigerian and Kashmiri ‘businessmen’ in Goa by a team of Narcotics Control Bureau at Anjuna on Saturday has unearthed a new modus operandi of drug smugglers. The case has brought under the scanner businesses run by Kashmiris as well as certain party clubs along the coastal belt.
A garment shop owner Ashiq Shah, originally hailing from Jammu & Kashmir and carrying out his business in Anjuna was arrested with a cocktail of drugs which was concealed in the clothes at his shop.
Hundred ecstacy tablets and 30 strips of LSD paper was seized which Shah confessed to the team was supplied by Nigerian Franklin Emekauchulwu. The foreigner was subsequently arrested while he was delivering a consignment to another customer worth Rs 25 lakh.
Sources said the Kashmiri has been running the drugs racket under the garb of garment store and sold drugs such as LSD, Cocaine, MDMA/Ecstacy and Charas to tourists since last three years.
“It appears that the Nigerians have again gained inroads into the Anjuna tourist belt and creating nuisance. Moreover, it is suspected that there are many Kashmiri handicraft and cloth shops that are selling drugs to tourists. Investigations are on,” said an official.
Both have been remanded for interrogation.
The role of local night clubs has also come under scanner for allegedly assisting the tourists to buy drugs from these shops and allowing them to openly consume inside their premises during late night parties.
“A few clubs have come to our notice such as UV Bar, Hippies etc where these Nigerians and Kashmiris and are found to be soliciting their clients and proper action will be initiated against them. This is a mockery of the local administration because it is happening right under the nose of the local police and the anti-narcotics cell,” said sources.
