PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday said the government’s action against the narco-trade will continue and no one will be spared.
Sawant, whose government has faced flak over the last few days after the death of Sonali Phogat and evidence gathered exposed a murky narco trail, referred to the subject at three separate events he addressed including one in his home constituency of Sanquelim.
At the event in Sanquelim related to the ongoing Ganesh Chaturthi festivities, Sawant said: "Drugs is not the culture of Goans, singing 'bajans' and 'kirtans' is."
Referring to the crackdown on drugs he had earlier this week announced, the chief minister said: "My government will act with an iron fist against any place used for such illegal activity. People involved in these illegal activities will not be spared either. The action will continue,” Sawant said at one of the events.
Sawant also claimed that the Anti Narcotic Cell (ANC) which is coordinating with other agencies to curb the drug menace here, had also seized large quantities of drugs in the last three years.
This seized contraband will be destroyed publicly soon, he said.
Nightclubs and other hot spots in the State's tourism circuit are expected to face the brunt of the police crackdown against drugs as Sawant said venues, where parties are held late at night, are under the radar.
The chief minister had indicated that owners of venues, where rampant use of drugs is discovered, will be booked and prosecuted.
Earlier last week, a top Hyderabad cop had publicly in a press conference indicted the Goa police for being non-cooperative in their quest to nab big drug traders.
The Commissioner of Hyderabad police had also claimed that many big players in the narco trade had shifted base to Goa.
Goa's Director General of Police (DGP) Jaspal Singh, however, had dismissed the allegations of his Hyderabad counterparts as baseless and denied that there was any request from them for assistance in any drug surveillance operation.
