Drugs and Goa have been synonymous. Even with a rising crime graph the government has done little to crack down.
By Sanjay Dhavalikar
The Goa police are facing major embarrassment after the ‘secret’ nexus between drug dealers and police has come out into the ‘open’. Five police officers, including one police inspector, have been suspended for their alleged links with drug peddlers.
This is for the first time in Goa that action has been initiated against so many officials in the police department for their alleged links with drug dealers. Goa’s residents and the police department were shocked on seeing video footage uploaded on YouTube which showed Israeli national Atala, allegedly a drug peddler, confessing that police inspector Ashish Shirodkar, earlier attached to the state’s anti-narcotic cell (ANC) has been giving him protection and also re-selling drugs confiscated during police raids.
The video footage was verified by senior police officers and the government decided to take action against the concerned officials. Accordingly inspector Ashish Shirodkar along with a head constable and three constables have been put under suspension and an enquiry has been initiated against them. The Crime branch of Goa police will undertake the enquiry.
“The Goa government has decided to take stern action against police officials who have links with drug peddlers. Police officers are studying the video footage. This should not have happened. If officers who are supposed to work for the people and protect law and order are acting with drug dealers, we will not spare them,” home minister Ravi Naik firmly stated. The home minister said top police officers have initiated a thorough enquiry into the matter.
Local TV channel Prudent, and news agency PTI broke the story a few days ago. Top politicians and police officers were forced to look into the matter immediately. This story comes to light in the wake of the arrest of alleged notorious Israeli drug dealer David Drihan alias Dudu (34). The anti-narcotic cell of Goa police arrested Dudu from Anjuna a week ago with drugs worth Rs3.81 lakh. Police superintendent Veenu Bansal stated, “Dudu has been operating in the narcotics trade in Goa for the last 12 years. He was arrested a couple of years ago on charges of overstaying.”
He also said, “We had arrested one Sadanand Chimulkar last month who is a guest house owner in Anjuna. We obtained information from him about Dudu’s activities and modus-operandi. Accordingly, we kept a watch on him for over a month. We laid a trap in Anjuna. Dudu came to the spot with a package of drugs and we nabbed him.”
What is surprising is that Dudu was arrested in 2008 by Mumbai’s anti-narcotic cell and was earlier served a notice to leave the country in 2006. But he was able to contest the notice and continued to stay in India, mainly in Goa. He has been using a company as a front and had set up the business along with a couple of locals. The company has been registered as ‘Dudu Division Import Export Private Ltd’ at Anjuna. Dudu’s arrest will further unveil the nexus between drug dealers and police.
For more than a decade now, Goa has been consistently described as a transit point for narcotics in India. With rave parties and acid parties being organized often at various locations from beaches to even in the hinterland, it is believed that drugs are freely available in these parties. Goans have been complaining about the spread of the drug mafia which is largely controlled by Israeli and Russian nationals.
The drug mafia in Goa is actively involved in distributing drugs to other parts of the country and the world. Some police officers explain that the most common way of smuggling drugs out of the country or to other places in India is with the help of minors, especially girls. “Minors are usually not doubted by the police and hence, they manage
to get away.”
According to one estimate, of all the drugs brought into Goa, 70 per cent is smuggled out while 30 per cent is sold locally at rave parties and to tourists in Goa. It is believed that in Goa the major drug centres at present are the beaches at Anjuna, Vagator, Calangute, Baga and Morji.
Local Goans fear that government inaction to curb this problem will only lead to more problems in the future. “It is no secret, but Goa is becoming more and more popular for foreign tourists thanks to the drug scene that is so very available here,” said Maria Dourado from Arpora village.
The Goa government says it will deal with the drug mafia with an iron hand. Home minister Ravi Naik has often made statements on these lines. But the reality has been very different.
Senior police officers claim that Dudu is a ‘big catch’ and through him they will be able to uncover the drug business in Goa. Sources also said that Dudu has revealed some names of police inspectors and other police personnel, who harboured him and collected protection money. They also alerted Dudu about raids to be conducted by the anti-narcotics cell. Dudu has claimed that it was due to the protection provided to him that has enabled him to survive for 12 years in the state.
Drug trade is big business in Goa. It has links with the police department and with politicians. And so it remains to be seen whether the government has the will to crack it.