Huge consignment of drugs worth Rs 200 cr expected into Goa: IB

NEW DELHI: As Goa enters the peak tourism period, with foreign tourists and foreign charter flights expected in the coastal state from December, Indian intelligence agencies like the IB (Intelligence Bureau) are concerned about huge consignments of drugs expected to enter the State.

Many drug peddlers from outside Goa, who had returned to their native towns due to the Covid pandemic-induced lockdown have entered Goa once again with the sole intention of making a quick buck.

As peddlers start placing orders with their counterparts in North India, drugs worth Rs 200 crore (local value) are expected to enter Goa in the next 10-15 days, intelligence sources said. This contraband is further diluted and adulterated by local peddlers to double its quantity and then sold to tourists

This season, about 1.75 to 2.25 lakh foreign tourists are expected in Goa during the November-December-January period and agencies are keeping a close watch on the movement of drugs from the border areas of North India, including Rajasthan and Gujarat. Prior to the pandemic, Goa recorded an annual average of 4 – 4.5 lakh foreign tourists each year.

As can be seen from the huge drug seizures in Maharashtra and Gujarat over the last 15 days, international drug syndicates in cahoots with the Taliban in Afghanistan are pushing thousands of kilograms of various drugs via Pakistan’s borders into India. Besides Goa, cites like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad and tourist locales of Kerala are also on the map of drug syndicates operating from Afghani and Pakistani soil, an official said.

After the pandemic, as Goa opens up completely, welcoming tourists with open arms, North Goa Superintendent of Police (SP) Shobhit Saxena told news agency ANI on Monday, “there is a surge in the number of foreigners booked under the NDPS Act,” the stringent law dealing with consumption, sale and transportation of drugs in Goa.

Saxena’s team, the Goa Crime Branch, as well as PIs of most police stations in the coastal zone particularly Calangute, Anjuna and Pernem police stations have witnessed additional drug-related movement and activity in the coastal belt, as nearly 300 to 400 drug peddlers from outside the state have entered Goa in the last 15 days to do business.