GOA POLICE TO CURB DRUG TRADE
Goa Police to curb drug trade, foreigners under scanner.
Press Trust Of India
Panaji, July 21, 2007
Concerned by the presence of a drug cartel in Goa, police are acting against
foreigners overstaying in the state as part of efforts to curb the illegal
trade in narcotics.
"Foreigners don't overstay without reason. Why do you stay back unless there
is a lot of benefit? Drug peddling is one of the major reasons for them to
stay back (in Goa)," Deputy Inspector General Ujjwal Mishra told PTI.
He said seven Nigerians and a Kenyan, arrested in recent raids, had links to
the drug trade and all of them were found to be overstaying in Goa, which
receives thousands of foreign tourists every year.
Three of them had no valid passport. Investigations have revealed that all
these foreigners were acting as "drug carriers" at the behest of suppliers,
Mishra said.
"We have not managed to get a big drug haul from the raids as the tourist
season is not on," he said.
Police officials, while confirming huge drug trade in the state, said they
were trying to "immobilise the carriers" before the start of the tourist
season in a couple of months.
Mishra said recent arrests have helped police unearth national and
international links to the drug trade in this tourist paradise.
"Interrogations have revealed that they had procured the drugs from outside
Goa," he said.
