By Tony Martin Locals shelter drug lords, students found with drugs and condoms
CANACONA: Dum Maro Dum missed it, so did we. As Anjuna, Vagator and Baga topped the charts as the nerve centers of Goa's drug trade, the extreme other end, Canacona, is where it's all happening these days. >From a sleepy enclave on the south end of Goa known for its sanctuary of >delicious oblivion for city-weary souls, Canacona has come a long way to be a >safe haven for junkies, hipsters and drug dealers primarily because of its >relatively low cost of living. What is shocking is the spread of drugs and stimulants beyond the coastal scene to school campuses and remote villages like turtle-haven Galgibaga. In what is seen by many as only a tip of the proverbial iceberg some students of two schools in Canacona were detained for possession of drugs and condoms in their school bags last May. The recent arrest of a youth from Sadolxem for possession of drugs holds a mirror yet again to the deep malady. Drug and cocaine lords are on the loose in coastal Canacona particularly in Palolem which is the new haven for drug zombies and drug peddlers. Moreover, the locals themselves have been harbouring drug dealers in their houses for the last couple of years. Says Mr Fernandes (name changed): "The painful truth staring us in the face is that the lure of the fast buck has made people numb. People in my neighbourhood have been harbouring drug dealers for the last couple of years. As one moves out, another moves right in. The landlord is fully aware of what's going on but is blinded by overpowering greed to stop it." Canacona has found a big market for cannabis and ecstasy and even heroin and brown sugar. Some drug users besides motorbike pilots, masseurs or barmen in shacks work as peddlers. It is alleged that drugs are a big business even in remote hamlets like Galgibaga. According to local sources Lamanis (women rag pickers) in Palolem have now taken to drug peddling. Drugs are allegedly sold "almost openly" at all-night parties that are the "in-thing" at Palolem. "I am surprised the Canacona cops conveniently get blind and deaf when it comes to all-night parties at certain places at Palolem while at certain other places they come pouncing and bouncing immediately when the music curfew exceeds by a few minutes," says a Palolem restaurateur preferring anonymity. A drug peddler from Palolem was nabbed by the narcotics cell of the Customs and Central Excise in Canacona for possessing 1.10 kilogram of 'hashish'under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. Three others were also arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2008 in connection with a drug case. "Canacona's beautiful beaches are today used by the drug mafia to promote drug trade under the shack culture. Shacks are the root cause and main hideouts for such activities. Shacks are taken up using the son of the soil theme, and later operated by foreigners." says Mr. Barreto. Asked for his comments on the drug scene in coastal Canacona, Police Inspector Raju Raut Desai, was curt in his reply, "On drugs I cannot comment. You can take the comments of my superiors in the matter. If you know any drug dealers let me know." http://oheraldo.in/news/Main%20Page%20News/Canacona-Goa-rsquo-s-new-drug-hotspot/48014.html
