------------------------------------------------------------------------ * * * * * * * * * ANNUAL GOANETTERS MEET * * * * * * * * * ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Goanetters in Goa and visiting meet Jan 6, 2009 at 3.30 pm at Hotel Mandovi (prior to the Goa Sudharop event, which you're also welcome to). Join in for a Dutch dinner -- if we can agree on a venue after the meet. RSVP (confirmations only) 9822122436 or 2409490 or [email protected] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ >From the Herald internet edition. They came by sea, but ‘disappeared’ later... CANACONA, JAN 3 Five men carrying heavy bags alight from a fishing trawler near the Nuem-Khola coast and move around suspiciously in the area. The event bears an eerie resemblance to the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks, but the similarities stop there. While vigilant residents claim they had handed over the five men to the police, there has been virtually no further information or details on the ‘suspects’. Speaking to Herald, some anxious residents from Nuem and Khanaguinim, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed to have corned five men carrying heavy bags, after they had alighted from a fishing trawler near the Nuem coast and entered the village about a fortnight ago. “Some of our locals noticed a fishing-type trawler dropping anchor and a dingy boat reaching the five men ashore at Gawal, which is between Cabo-de-Rama fort and Nuem-Khola village,” a resident said. “The men, who spoke broken English and a little Hindi, were first noticed asking for rooms on rent. After entering a residential area, they were seen loitering in these remote residential areas.” The locals who first noticed the trawler drop anchor off the Gawal coast then alerted other residents, who also became suspicious of the five men, who could not be identified. “Our fears became stronger when we were reminded of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, specially since the terrorists had also arrived in a trawler and had carried heavy bags,” said a local. The sight of the five men moving with large bags towards Canaguinim caused further apprehension among locals, who followed them and eventually stopped the men near the Canaguinim church. “One villager then phoned the police and a police team reached the site and took all five men in their custody,” the local added. Several people from the locality, including Khola Sarpanch Biva Velip, have corroborated to the reported “capture” of five men with heavy bags. “The men, who arrived in a trawler off the Nuem Coast, were first apprehended by locals and later handed over to the police,” Velip told Herald. Since then, the locals have had no information regarding the five men who were taken into police custody. “Who are these men? Have they been arrested or have they been released,” asked another villager, as other villagers were keen to know details regarding the five men. Incidentally, both the Cuncolim police station (under whose jurisdiction Nuem/ Khanaguinim falls) and the Coastal police, which also has jurisdiction along the coast, have not released any details to the public regarding the five men supposedly in police custody. This has fueled speculation among the locals that the five men may have had some terrorist links and that, they were quietly shunted out from the public eye for reasons best known to the police or other authorities. When contacted, Cuncolim police feigned ignorance in the entire episode. “We have no knowledge of any such developments which are reported to have taken place in our jurisdiction,” a policeman said. Naguesh Bhatcar [email protected]
