Sex and drug trade flourishing in Lobo’s constituency: Cong

PANJIM: The Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) on Sunday said that sex trade and drug peddling have been flourishing in the Calangute-Candolim-Baga coastal belt after Michael Lobo was elected to represent the area in the Goa Assembly.

Addressing the media, GPCC Spokesperson Urfan Mulla said, “Sex trade and drug business has been flourishing since Michael Lobo became the MLA. When Parrikar was the chief minister during his earlier tenure, he had cleared Baina area of sex trade within one and half day using government machinery. Today the sex trade and drug business are flourishing in Calangute.”

“Since 2013 sex trade in Calangute has increased enormously. Today a lot of massage parlours have got licenses during the tenure of Lobo. Directly or indirectly Lobo being the MLA should have taken the initiative to stop these wrong things which are creating bad image for the State,” he said.

Mulla questioned as to who is responsible for this and whether the Goans are safe. “All the migrants from Jharkhand and Uttarakhand are involved in such activities,” he said.

“These types of illegal businesses are well organised and they are now running through social media platform, too. I doubt whether the MLA has revealed names of those involved in prostitution and drug peddling. Today we can see the Nigerians involved in drug peddling in Calangute,” he alleged.   

 The GPCC further questioned as to why the local MLA Lobo and the chief minister are silent on this issue; and demanded that the police be given a free hand to tackle these issues.

Alleging that hotelier Vishwajit Singh was recently murdered in Candolim was due to his links with the sex and drug trade, the Congress claimed that flesh trade and drug trafficking are conducted with the support of Lobo.

When asked respond to the Congress allegations, Lobo said, “You look at the cases that are registered every month. The police are continuously catching pimps and rescuing the girls. Our government is serious on clamping down on these trades. I have given a free hand to the police. We are cracking down in a big way and I am happy with the police department and the crime branch.”